The Four Tours World Championship was an annual professional golf tournament that was played from 1985 to 1991. It was played between teams representing the four main professional tours: the American PGA Tour, the European Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Japan Golf Tour. In 1985 and 1986 it was called the Nissan Cup, in 1987 and 1988 it was called the Kirin Cup while from 1989 to 1991 it was called the Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship.
Each team played the other three teams in the group stage. The leading two teams then played a final, with the other two teams playing for third and fourth places. There were six players on each team. Each match consisted of six singles matches, decided by medal match play over 18 holes.
Winners Team Year Venue Winners Points Runner-up Points Third Fourth Totalpurse ($) Winner'sshare ($)Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship 1991 Royal Adelaide Golf Club Europe 8 Australasia 4 Japan United States 1,150,000 480,000 1990 Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club Australasia – United States – Europe Japan 1,150,000 480,000 1989 Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club United States 6 Europe 6 Japan Australasia 1,030,000 390,000Kirin Cup 1988 Kapalua Resort, Bay course United States 8 Europe 4 Australasia Japan 1,000,000 360,000 1987 Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club United States 10 Europe 2 Australasia Japan 950,000 360,000Nissan Cup 1986 Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club Japan 8 Europe 4 Australasia United States 900,000 300,000 1985 Kapalua Resort, Bay course United States 10 Europe 2 Japan Australasia 750,000 300,000
Two points were awarded for a win, one point for a halved match. In 1989 United States won the championship with an aggregate score of 404 to Europe's 416. In 1990 the final was cancelled because of rain. Both teams had scored 20 points in the three group matches which meant that the result was decided on aggregate scores. Wayne Levi did not complete his first match because of an injury and hence the United States score was uncountable and Australasia were declared the winners.
Individual Trophy Year Winner Country Score Margin of victory Runner-up Nissan Cup1985 Sandy Lyle −21 (267) 3 strokes Curtis Strange1986 Tsuneyuki Nakajima −18 (270) 2 strokes Bernhard Langer
Summary Team Wins 2nd 3rd 4thUnited States 4 1 0 2Europe 1 5 1 0Australasia 1 1 3 2Japan 1 0 3 3
1985 Sandy Lyle won the individual event with a score of 267 (21 under par) for his four rounds, three ahead of Curtis Strange
Source: Teams The teams were: United States: Raymond Floyd (captain), Mark O'Meara, Corey Pavin, Calvin Peete, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins Europe: Bernhard Langer (captain), Gordon Brand Jnr, Howard Clark, Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance, Ian Woosnam Japan: Isao Aoki, Kikuo Arai, Shinsaku Maeda, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Naomichi Ozaki, Tateo Ozaki Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Brian Jones, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman
Seve Ballesteros was on the original European team but withdrew and was replaced by Ian Woosnam
1986 Tsuneyuki Nakajima won the individual event with a score of 270 (18 under par) for his four rounds, two ahead of Bernhard Langer.
Source: Teams The teams were: United States: John Mahaffey, Calvin Peete, Dan Pohl, Payne Stewart, Hal Sutton, Bob Tway Europe: Bernhard Langer (captain), Gordon J. Brand, Howard Clark, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam Japan: Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Masashi Ozaki, Naomichi Ozaki, Tateo Ozaki, Koichi Suzuki, Nobumitsu Yuhara Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, David Graham, Brian Jones, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman
1987 Teams The teams were: United States: Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Kite, Dan Pohl, Scott Simpson, Payne Stewart, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins Europe: Bernhard Langer (captain), Ken Brown, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, José María Olazábal, Ian Woosnam Japan: Isao Aoki, Hajime Meshiai, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Tōru Nakamura, Masashi Ozaki, Tateo Ozaki Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, Brian Jones, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman, Peter Senior
1988 Teams The teams were: United States: Chip Beck, Ben Crenshaw, Steve Pate, Mike Reid, Joey Sindelar, Curtis Strange Europe: Gordon Brand Jnr, Anders Forsbrand, Mark James, Mark Mouland, Ronan Rafferty, José Rivero Japan: Isao Aoki, Hiroshi Makino, Masahiro Kuramoto, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Yoshimi Niizeki, Nobuo Serizawa Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, Brian Jones, Graham Marsh, Craig Parry, Peter Senior
1989 Teams The teams were: United States: Chip Beck, Mark Calcavecchia, Ken Green, Tom Kite, Payne Stewart, Curtis Strange Europe: Bernhard Langer (captain), Gordon Brand Jnr, Mark James, José María Olazábal, Ronan Rafferty, Ian Woosnam Japan: Tōru Nakamura, Masashi Ozaki, Naomichi Ozaki, Tateo Ozaki, Koichi Suzuki, Katsunari Takahashi Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady, Brian Jones, Greg Norman, Craig Parry, Peter Senior
1990 Teams The teams were: United States: Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Couples, Wayne Levi, Jodie Mudd, Tim Simpson, Payne Stewart Europe: Nick Faldo (captain), David Feherty, Mark James, Bernhard Langer, Ronan Rafferty, Ian Woosnam Japan: Saburo Fujiki, Hideki Kase, Masahiro Kuramoto, Naomichi Ozaki, Nobuo Serizawa, Noboru Sugai Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, Wayne Grady, Brian Jones, Craig Parry, Peter Senior
1991 Teams The teams were: United States: Fred Couples, Jim Gallagher Jr., Billy Mayfair, Tom Purtzer, Bob Tway, Lanny Wadkins Europe: Sam Torrance (captain), Paul Broadhurst, David Feherty, Colin Montgomerie, Ronan Rafferty, Steven Richardson Japan: Yoshinori Kaneko, Hideki Kase, Ryoken Kawagishi, Hiroshi Makino, Noboru Sugai, Tsukasa Watanabe Australasia: Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, Mike Harwood, Roger Mackay, Graham Marsh, Craig Parry
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