IT’s the event known as the unofficial curtain-raiser for the PGA Tour – hosted by none other than golf legend Tiger Woods.
And this year Scots golf star Robert MacIntyre is one of the lucky names on the ultra-exclusive entry list for its $5m (£3.9m) purse.
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Tiger Woods with last year’s winner of the Hero World Challenge, Scottie SchefflerCredit: Getty
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Robert MacIntyre aiming for his share of the $5m payout at Albany Golf ClubCredit: Getty
The Hero World Challenge kicks off in the Bahamas next week at Albany Golf Club.
Previous winners of the competition include Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Woods himself, who has won it a record five times since it was first held in 2000.
These days, the tournament is a benefit for Woods’ charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation.
The event is preceded by a pro-am competition whereby the pros play alongside amateurs, who are quite often family members.
Woods regularly plays with his son Charlie but this year he has pulled out due to ongoing fitness issues.
MacIntyre will likely tee it up with his dad Dougie, who famously steered him to his first PGA Tour title last year at the Canadian Open as his emergency caddie.
The 20-strong field generally consists of the defending champion, the most recent winner of the Players Championship with the remaining spots opened up to the remaining highest ranked players in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Oban-born MacIntyre is one of only two Brits to make up the field this year and s also one of eight debutantes.
The lefty is currently ranked 16th in the world after a career year in which he claimed Scottish Open glory as well as the Canadian Open title.
He is joined by another recent maiden winner on the PGA Tour, Englishman Aaron Rai.
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Two other prospective 2025 Ryder Cup stars in Ludvig Aberg and Matthieu Pavon are also on the list of entries.
The rest of the field is made up of 13 Americans including major champions Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Keegan Bradley and Justin Thomas, two Korean stars in Sungjae Im and Tom Kim and popular Aussie Jason Day.
A statement from the organisers said: “The 2024 Hero World Challenge once again features one of the strongest fields in golf. Headlined by World No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler, the tournament’s defending champion who won Olympic Gold in Paris in August, the 20 player field will tee it up at Albany, Bahamas December 5-8.
“Nine members of the United States’ victorious 2024 Presidents Cup team (Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala, Keegan Bradley, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Brian Harman and Tony Finau) and three members of the International team (Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Jason Day) will compete at Albany.
“Eight players will make their Hero World Challenge debuts this December – Ludvig Åberg, Theegala, Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Aaron Rai, Matthieu Pavon, Akshay Bhatia and Nick Dunlap. The 2024 field represents golfers from seven different countries (U.S., Republic of Korea, Australia, England, Scotland, France and Sweden).
“The field features six golfers who have combined to win eight major championships – 2022 and 2024 Masters champion Scheffler, 2023 U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark, 2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman, 2017 and 2022 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day, and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley.”
The winners’ share is $1m (£789,515).
MacIntyre heads to the Caribbean as he looks to cement his status as a top player on the PGA Tour in 2025.
After next week’s event in the Bahamas, MacIntyre will have time off over Christmas before he tees it up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open, both held in Hawaii.
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He will head there instead of playing in the DP World Tour’s Team Cup event in Abu Dhabi.
That event is being used as a tune-up for the Ryder Cup later this year which will take place at Bethpage Black in New York.
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