MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) The World Cup this week will offer a glimpse of what to expect when golf returns to the Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Individual stroke play and world rankings will determine who plays and, for the most part, players will carry the flag of their countries on their golf bags.
After that, the similarities begin to fade.
The World Cup which begins Thursday at Royal Melbourne will have its traditional team component the Olympics will not have a team competition and the situation involving Britain and Ireland is much different. That's raised a bit of a quandary for Rory McIlroy: who he will represent in 2016 in Brazil Britain or Ireland?
At the Olympics, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as Britain. But at the World Cup, England, Scotland and Wales will compete as separate countries. To muddy the waters a bit more at the World Cup, the tradition is for Ireland and Northern Ireland to compete as Ireland. McIlroy is not competing at Royal Melbourne this week, and is confident he still retains the selection choice for the Olympics.
For the international players who are at the World Cup the rules are more cut and dried, and use the same rankings format that will be used to determine Olympic places.