Tiger Woods' holiday season tournament, The World Challenge, an event he has hosted since 1999, is back on the schedule this year.
With the Professional Golf Association (PGA) using a wraparound season in October, the future of The World Challenge remained in the air. The tournament has been scheduled for December 5th through the 8th at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousands Oaks, California, where it has been played since 2001.
"There wasn't a doubt whether we could stage it. The question was whether we could get the necessary corporate support," said Greg McLaughlin, the president of the Tiger Woods Foundation who also runs his tournaments; who stated he was not ready to announce corporate support for the tournament. "We're happy that we have a lot of support for the event that we've been able to generate the last few months."
The World Challenge attracts some of the world's best golfing talent in a reduced field - attracting the likes of Steve Stricker, Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, Ian Poulter, Dustin Johnson, and Rickie Fowler - offering world ranking points and cash prizes that can range from $120,000 given to the person in last place of the 18-man field to the $1 million that Graeme McDowell won last year.
Since its inception, the World Challenge has raised more than $25 million to help college-access programs through the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif. and the Earl Woods Scholarship program.
"This is our 15th year, and it's very important to Tiger," said McLaughlin. "For our foundation, it's the first event we ever did. It would be hard to ever imagine not doing the event. I've had so many people - players, media - stop me throughout the year and say, 'Are you doing the event again?'"