WGT Golf News

The WGT Fall Tour golf tournament has ended for November, and the winners have been announced!

Thousands of online golfers competed in the November Qualifier played on Oakmont, and the top 100 players (plus ties) qualified for the November Championship played on St Andrews and Royal St George's this week, with the Top 10 combined scores earning $100 Amazon Gift Cards.

Every month, WGT also selects random players in the Fall Tour (regardless of their scores) to win free virtual golf equipment from the Pro Shop. In the November Qualifier, the following WGT Players won the TaylorMade Ghost Spider Putter (L92+), which is the top-performing putter on WGT. Congratulations to...

• SIYAL – Pro
• jburtonw10 – Tour Pro
• chisar43 – Master 
• simmons0442 – Tour Master
• pompanike – Legend

For your chance to win, be sure to play in the December Qualifier anytime this month. Good luck!

Don't forget your WGT friends this holiday season!

It's easy to gift virtual golf items in the WGT Pro Shop to your friends, including golf balls, wedges, putters, drivers, XP boosts or avatars. Perhaps a Putter Pal for your WGT friends who need a little extra help on the golf course greens. After sending gifts, challenge your friends to a virtual strokeplay golf game on Congressional Country Club!

How to Gift on WGT
1. Select an item in the WGT Pro Shop
2. Click the GIVE AS GIFT button
3. Enter the player's WGT username, or email address if they're not on WGT yet

Start the season off right by gifting your friends on WGT!

There's a new online golf game on World Golf Tour called Skins that you have to try!

Skins is a new multiplayer golf game format. Each hole is worth a Skin and tied Skins carry-over to the next hole, adding to the suspense! You can play Skins on any WGT strokeplay golf course with 2-4 players, and either for fun or for WGT credits in Skins Challenge games.

Fun Facts About Skins

• Carry-Overs – Skins carry-over to the next hole when there’s a tie, so some holes are frequently worth several Skins
• Two-Tie-All-Tie – Skins can be played with 2-4 players, and if 2 players tie then the Skins carry-over to the next hole for all players
• Challenges – Skins can be played for WGT Credits, so 100 credits ($1) per Skin for 4 players would be a total pot of 7,200 credits ($72) contested over 18 holes

To join a Skins game on wGT, just choose “Skins Game” in the main menu, and either “Practice” for fun or “Challenge” for credits, then either “Invite Players” you know, or “Join A Game” with other players. For Skins Challenges, you’ll be able to agree to the amount of credits per Skin.

Play the new Skins golf game with friends on WGT today!

This weekend is the big Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping weekend. To celebrate, WGT is offering FREE virtual club rentals starting Black Friday 11/25 thru Cyber Monday 11/28. 

That's right, WGT players will be able to rent any virtual golf club in the WGT Pro Shop for free. As long as the golf club is unlocked for your level or tier, you can rent it for free for 24 hours and play in any WGT game or tournament. 

As many of you know, upgraded virtual golf clubs give you extra distance, spin and control, helping you improve your scores, win more matches, and have more fun! 

This is a great time to try out that new club you've been considering. Check-out the top-selling clubs from Cleveland, Ping and TaylorMade. Some player favorites include the Cleveland Black Pearl wedges, the Ping Raptures, and the TaylorMade R11 all-white woods, irons and Ghost Spider putter.

Remember, free golf club rentals start on Friday 11/25 thru Monday 11/28 (US pacific time), so make your plans to play WGT over the long weekend!

It was a great weekend for the game of golf, as 24 of the world's best golfers competed in the 2012 President's Cup at Royal Melbourne Country Club in Australia.

The International team rallied from behind in the morning matches on Sunday, but ultimately the United States team prevailed, as wins by Furyk, Toms, Woods and Stricker in the final 4 afternoon matches sealed the victory 19 to 15 for the United States to win the 2012 President's Cup.

Jim Furyk, coming off a down year, was the only player to go 5-0, accomplished by only 3 other players in history (Maruyama, O'Meara and Woods). The other big winner was Australia, as despite the loss for the Australian players Allenby, Baddeley, Day, Ogilvy and Scott, the tournament highlighted a world-class golf course and the spirited Australian golf fans.

Below are the full match results and player records...

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FINAL RESULT - UNITED STATES 19, INTERNATIONAL 15

SUNDAY SINGLES - United States 6, International 6

K.T. Kim, International, def. Webb Simpson, United States, 1 up.

Charl Schwartzel, International, def. Dustin Johnson, United States, 2 and 1.

Ryo Ishikawa, International, def. Bubba Watson, United States, 3 and 2.

Geoff Ogilvy, International, def. Bill Haas, United States, 2 up.

Hunter Mahan, United States, def. Jason Day, International, 5 and 3.

Nick Watney, United States, def. K.J. Choi, International, 3 and 2.

Adam Scott, International, def. Phil Mickelson, United States, 2 and 1.

Retief Goosen, International, def. Matt Kuchar, United States, 1 up.

Jim Furyk, United States, def.. Ernie Els, International, 4 and 3

David Toms, United States, def. Robert Allenby, International, 7 and 5.

Tiger Woods, United States, def. Aaron Baddeley, International, 4 and 3.

Steve Stricker, United States, def. Y.E. Yang, International, 2 and 1.

SATURDAY FOURBALL - International 3, United States 2

Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel, International, def. Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, United States, 2 and 1.

K.T. Kim and Y.E. Yang, International, def. Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods, United States, 1 up.

Geoff Ogilvy and K.J. Choi, International, def. Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar, United States, 1 up.

Bill Haas and Hunter Mahan, United States, def. Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, International, 2 and 1.

Jim Furyk and Nick Watney, United States, def. Adam Scott and Ernie Els, International, 1 up.

SATURDAY FOURSOMES - United States 4, International 1

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, United States, def. Robert Allenby and Geoff Ogilvy, International, 3 and 2.

Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa, International, def. Bill Haas and Matt Kuchar, United States, 1 up.

Hunter Mahan and David Toms, United States, def. Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel, International, 5 and 4.

Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods, United States, def. Adam Scott and K.J. Choi, International, 3 and 2.

Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, United States, def. Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, International, 2 and 1.

FRIDAY FOURBALL - United States 3, International 3

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, United States, def. Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa, International, 3 and 1.

Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, International, def. Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods, United States, 1 up.

Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, United States, def. Adam Scott and K.T. Kim, International, 2 and 1.

Geoff Ogilvy and K.J. Choi, International, def. Bill Haas and Nick Watney, United States, 1 up.

Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker, United States, def. Y.E. Yang and Robert Allenby, International, 4 and 3.

Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel, International, def. Hunter Mahan and David Toms, United States, 2 and 1.

THURSDAY FOURSOMES - United States 4, International 2

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, United States, def. Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa, International, 4 and 2.

Adam Scott and K.J. Choi, International, def. Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, United States, 7 and 6.

Hunter Mahan and David Toms, United States, def. K.T. Kim and Y.E. Yang, International, 6 and 5.

Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, United States, def. Retief Goosen and Robert Allenby, International, 4 and 3.

Bill Haas and Nick Watney, United States, and Geoff Ogilvy and Charl Schwartzel, International, halved.

Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar, United States, and Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, International, halved.

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UNITED STATES TEAM

Player / Points / Record

Jim Furyk 5 5-0-0
Hunter Mahan 4 4-1-0 
Phil Mickelson 3 3-1-0 
David Toms 3 3-1-0
Webb Simpson 3 3-2-0 
Bubba Watson 3 3-2-0
Nick Watney 2 1/2 2-1-1
Steve Stricker 2 2-2-0 
Tiger Woods 2 2-3-0 
Bill Haas 1 1/2 1-3-1 
Dustin Johnson 1 1/2 1-3-1 
Matt Kuchar 1 1/2 1-3-1 
 

INTERNATIONAL TEAM

Player / Points / Record

Geoff Ogilvy 3 1/2 3-1-1 
Charl Schwartzel 3 1/2 3-1-1
K.J. Choi 3 3-2-0
Retief Goosen 3 3-2-0
Ryo Ishikawa 2 2-2-0 
K.T. Kim 2 2-2-0 
Adam Scott 2 2-3-0 
Aaron Baddeley 1 1/2 1-2-1 
Jason Day 1 1/2 1-3-1 
Ernie Els 1 1-4-0 
Y.E. Yang 1 1-3-0 
Robert Allenby 0 0-4-0 

The 2012 President's Cup has proven to be an exciting tournament so far, on a beautiful and very challenging course!

Held at The Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Australia, 12 of the finest golfers from the USA and 12 of the top international golfers outside of Europe have competed for the past three days in heated matches.

After the Day 3 morning Foursomes, the USA leads the tournament with 11 points over the International team's 6 points. The Day 3 afternoon Four-Ball matches start next, and then the final 12 Singles matches on Day 4. The USA has built a sizable lead so the Internationals will need a big rally.

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson are the stand-out stars from the USA team with a 3-0 record, defeating Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa in matches on Days 1 and 2, and Robert Allenby and Geoff Ogilvy on Day 3.

Tune in on Saturday, November 19, at 6:30 P.M. ET for coverage of the final day. To view the latest news on The President's Cup, follow us on Twitter for updates @worldgolftour and visit PGATour.com for updates.

Today marks the official start of The 2012 President's Cup held at The Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Australia. The President's Cup has grown to become one of the most eagerly awaited, highly watched events in all of golf, and pits the top players from the United States against an international team culled from the ranks of the finest golfers outside of Europe. The tournament consists of 34 matches: 11 foursomes (alternate shot), 11 four-ball (better ball) matches and 12 singles matches involving all players on the final Sunday, November 20. All matches are worth one point each and the winning team has to accumulate at least 17 points to win The President's Cup.

During the first day, 6 matches were held with 4 competing foursomes (each team consists of 12 golfers). USA match teams included Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson, Bill Haas & Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson & Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson & Jim Furyk, Hunter Mahan & David Toms, and Tiger Woods & Steve Stricker. The USA match teams scored 4 points in the first day of competition, while the International teams scored 2 points.

Tune in at Thursday, November 17, at 5:30 P.M. ET for coverage of the second day of the tournament. To view the latest news on The President's Cup, follow us on Twitter for updates @worldgolftour and visit PGATour.com for updates.

Skins Challenges are now available for play! Play for credits against your friends in the exciting Skins format. Enjoy.

Skins Challenges

Skins Challenges for credits are now available on WGT.   2 to 4 players can play for credits!   Read the FAQs for more details.

Additional Gift Card Options

In addition to Subway, you can now use your CircleK, CVS or Citgo gift cards to purchase credits on WGT.  Select the Gift Card option on the Buy Credits page.

WGT invited World Golf Tour players to contribute this blog post. As the 2011 Virtual Ketel One Cup Champion, PGAbound67 won a trip for four to play in the Ketel One Cup National Tournament at TPC Sawgrass. PGAbound67 invited three WGT friends to join him on the trip: bulfrog2004, BolloxInBruges, and mrenn29.  What an amazing example of the power of the WGT community and of the Deviations Country Club!

PGAbound67 (Dan)

Let me start off by giving a big thank you to WGT and Ketel One. We had an amazing time and the memories will last forever. We arrived at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse on Friday night for the welcome reception. We were greeted by two Ketel One representatives, who gave us a brief rundown of the events for the weekend – brunch at the clubhouse, followed by a 1:30 P.M. start to the tournament, and then dinner and an awards ceremony directly afterwards. When I got the itinerary, it said there would be a meet and greet with a “golf legend.” I had to ask myself – what classifies one as a “legend”? No, not a 61 average and countless ranked rounds, a real life legend…..I could only think of a few people who are still alive that I'd call a real life legend of golf.

We didn't have to wait long to find out who it was, the Ketel One representative came over to our table with a few welcoming gifts, including a brand new TaylorMade golf bag embroidered with the Ketel One logo, Adidas golf shirts with Ketel One Cup logos, an official yardage book of the course, and a Ketel One Golf flag, signed by the legend we would meet the following night.....Arnold Palmer!
 
During a tour of the massive TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse, we saw clubs from past champions – a wedge from Tiger Woods, Fred Funk's winning putter, KJ Choi's driver, Stephen Ames' driver. Directly across is The President's Cup Library, which has the President's Cup itself, an awesome sight to see. We called it a night and checked into our hotel room – a suite at the Sawgrass Marriott that certainly did not disappoint.

Saturday morning, the range was setup with Ketel One hitting stations, along with a TaylorMade representative with demo clubs for us to try out. We were greeted with personalized TPC Sawgrass bag tags with our names engraved in them. These were the real deal, all metal with a cutout of the famous 17th hole. Just before teeing off, Fred Funk stepped onto the range and wished us luck. We also caught a glimpse of Natalie Gulbis on the far side of the range doing a photo shoot for her sponsor. And, then the tournament commenced.

bulfrog2004 (Tad)

Let me start off by first thanking PGAbound67 (Dan) for the invitation to play. Without his victory none of this would have been possible. So thanks for your 57 Dan! Trying to fall asleep Thursday night was damn near impossible, I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve except this time Santa was bringing me a trip to TPC Sawgrass and a round with three of the greatest players on WGT. I would like to thank Ed, Alison, Whitney, and the rest of the Ketel One team. They put on one of the greatest tournaments I have had an opportunity to take part in. To say Ketel One treated us like royalty would be an understatement. Truly, a first class tournament ran by a first class group!

mrenn29 (Mike)

First off, thanks to Dan for inviting the three of us. It was a pleasure to be invited. I normally don’t fly across the country for a 36-hour stay, but this was a chance to play a world famous golf course. Ketel One went above and beyond my expectations when it came to hospitality. Meeting Arnold Palmer and Fred Funk was unbelievable. The course was in immaculate shape considering they just had a tournament there the week before. Once we teed off, it was a round full of memories – from the first tee to the last putt. Each of us contributed to a great score in a shamble format. Bottom line – I had a blast! Playing real golf with fellow country club members and being able to do it on a course like that is priceless! Thanks to Dan and especially Ketel One!

BolloxInBruges (Sam)

Like Mike and Tad, I would also like to thank Dan for the great opportunity to meet up with some fellow country club members and play golf. The hospitality that Ketel One and the TPC staff gave us was absolutely top notch. We were all amazed at the opportunity to meet Arnold Palmer and Fred Funk.

The golf action was great – having a chance to get a true feel for the course that we all watch every year during the Players. We all hit some quality shots throughout the day. Mike's shot on 17 was the highlight of the day, it landed about 4 feet past the hole and spun back, stopping about 8 inches short of a hole in one. Tad won the longest drive contest and got a brand new R11 driver for his efforts. Sam's hybrid from 225 yards out on 9 that ended about 25 feet short of the hole was one of his best. For me, the 6i on 8 to 7 feet for a birdie. After all was said and done, we came in 3rd place at -31, each taking home $250 gift cards from TaylorMade! Thanks again to Ketel One for running an amazing tournament. Will certainly be looking forward to the next event on WGT sponsored by Ketel One!

Watch this amazing shot on #17 by Mrenn29!

Exciting new features on WGT this month include Skins, a Best Of Strokeplay course, improved Challenges, and new R11 irons.  Enjoy!

SKINS, SKINS, SKINS!

Play the exciting "Skins" game format on WGT, where every hole is worth a Skin and any ties carry to the next hole. 2 to 4 players can play for fun!  Challenge version for credits will be coming soon!

"BEST OF" STROKEPLAY

The second "Best Of" course, as voted on by WGT players, is strokeplay on 18 favorite holes from 5 different courses, including Bethpage, Congressional, Kiawah, Royal St George's and St Andrews.  Play it now!

CHALLENGE SCORECARDS

The popular End-of-Game Challenges, in which you can challenge friends to top your best score, now include a Challenge Scorecard via email that compares your scores hole-by-hole.

NEW TAYLORMADE R11 IRONS

TaylorMade does it again with the top-performing set of irons on WGT. These irons give you maximum distance and control, and pair perfectly with the R11 Woods available at the same levels. This amazing iron set unlocks at Level 32 and Level 90.