Dates: Nov. 20-24, 2013

Where: The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Par/Yards: 35-36—71/6,397 yards

Field: 60 players

Purse: US$8,000,000 – $7,000,000 for individual stroke-play/ $1,000,000 team competition

Thomas Bjorn       66-68—134                       Denmark

Kevin Streelman  66-69—135                       United States

Ricardo Santos      69-69—138                       Portugal

Jason Day              68-70—138                       Australia

Stuart Manley      67-72—139                       Wales

Hideto Tanihara   72-67—139                       Japan

Martin Laird          67-72—139                       Scotland

Matt Kuchar          71-68—139                       United States

Kevin Streelman (-7)/Matt Kuchar(-3)             10-under     USA

Thomas Bjorn (-8)/Thorbjorn Olesen(+1)        7-under       Denmark

Hideto Tanihara (-3)/Ryo Ishikawa(Ev)           3-under       Japan

Jason Day (-4)/Adam Scott(x)                             3-under       Australia

The 2013 ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf moves to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, where it will be held for the fourth time in the tournament’s 60-year history, and the first since 1988.

The three previous times the World Cup of Golf was held at Royal Melbourne:

1959     Australia (Peter Thomson/Kel Nagle)

1972     Chinese Taipei (Hsieh Min-Nan/Lu Liang-Huan)

1988     United States (Ben Crenshaw/Mark McCumber)

Beginning in 2013, individual competition returned to the event that also includes a team component. The 60-player field was selected based on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) with up to two players per country allowed to qualify (four per country if they are within the top 15 of the OWGR). The format returns to 72 holes of stroke play, with the individuals competing for $7 million of the $8 million total purse. OWGR points will be awarded for the first time. The team portion will be based on combined stroke-play scores. The individual portion is similar to what will be used at the 2016 Summer Olympics, except that England, Scotland, and Wales will have teams instead of a single Great Britain team in the Olympics.

From 1955 to 1999, there was also a separate award, the International Trophy, for the individual with the best 72-hole score.

In 1953, the format was 36 holes of stroke play with the combined score of the two-man team determining the winner. From 1954 to 1999, the format was 72 holes of stroke play. Beginning in 2000, the format became alternating stroke-play rounds of fourball and foursomes.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn holds the 36-hole lead after rounds of 66-68 at the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf. Bjorn started the day with a bogey and ended with a bogey at the last, but recorded five birdies in between and holds a one-stroke lead over USA’s Kevin Streelman.

Bjorn has 20 international victories, the latest the 2013 Omega European Masters in Switzerland on the European Tour. His best season came in 2011 when he won four events on the European Tour.

On the PGA TOUR, Thomas Bjorn’s best standing is T2 through 36 holes.

The Denmark team of Bjorn and Thorbjorn Olesen (+1) are a combined 7-under and are in second in the team competition, three strokes behind the United States. Denmark has never won the team or individual competitions at the World Cup.  Their best finish in the team portion is a 5^th in 2005 (Anders Hansen/Soren Hansen).

First-round co-leader Kevin Streelman sprinted out of the gates with birdies on the first four holes, but a bogey on the eighth and a double-bogey on the ninth put him at 1-under on the front nine. Streelman finished the day with a 2-under-par 69 and is at 7-under for the tournament through 36 holes, one off the lead. Streelman is making his World Cup debut.

Making his first-ever trip to Australia, Streelman is on the first leg of a three-week international trip. Following the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf, Streelman will play the Australian Open in Sydney and the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Kevin Streelman joined the PGA TOUR circle of champions this season with a win at the Tampa Bay Championship.  His impressive, bogey-free, weekend rounds of 65-67 delivered his first TOUR title.  But he didn’t rest on his laurels.  He backed up his first victory with a third-place finish at the RBC Heritage and a tie for second at THE PLAYERS Championship.  He posted a total of five top-10 finishes in 2013 finishing 25^th in the FedExCup standings.

During Tuesday’s practice round, a local 19-year-old member Darcy Brereton was following Streelman when Streelman invited him to walk inside the ropes. On Wednesday, Streelman asked Brereton to be his caddie. Darcy noted that he has played Royal Melbourne as much as anyone recently.

Along with partner, Matt Kuchar (-3), Streelman has the opportunity to help the United States defend their title, and Kuchar’s title, from 2011 as well as defend the U.S. title from the last time the event was held at Royal Melbourne in 1988, when Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber were victorious. The U.S. team (10-under) has a three-stroke lead over  Denmark for the aggregate team competition.