ESPN Golf

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- World No. 1 Annika Sorenstam will miss the women's World Cup of Golf to be held at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City in January.

The Swede won the trophy with Liselotte Neumann at the same venue this year, but Sorenstam informed organizers that the event interfered with her overall preparations.

"Annika said that starting her season in January and only ending in mid-December left her too little time to have a proper rest to re-focus on the new season," World Cup media manager Alison Spratley said.

Carin Koch and Helen Alfredsson will defend the title for Sweden.

LPGA Order of Merit winner and world No. 2 Lorena Ochoa from Mexico has will skip the event, citing similar reasons to Sorenstam. World No. 3 Karrie Webb of Australia also will miss the tournament.

Veteran LPGA players Julie Inkster and Pat Hurst will represent the United States. The 44-woman field also includes Paraguayan Julieta Granada and English stalwart Laura Davies.

Teams: Australia (Nikki Garrett, Lindsey Wright), Brazil (Candy Hannemann, Angela Park), Denmark (Karen-Margrethe Juul, Iben Tinning), England (Laura Davies, Trish Johnson), Finland (Riikka Hakkarainen, Jenni Kuosa), France (Gwladys Nocera, Stephanie Arricau), Germany (Anja Monke, Miriam Nagl), Ireland (Rebecca Coakley, Hazel Kavanagh), Italy (Veronica Zorzi, Giulia Sergas), Japan (Momoko Ueda, Shinobu Moromizato), Kenya (Rose Naliaka, Jane Njoroge), South Korea (Young Kim, Ji Yai-shin), New Zealand (Lynnette Brooky, Elizabeth McKinnon), Norway (Suzann Pettersen, Marianne Skarpnord), Paraguay (Julieta Granada, Celeste Troche), Philippines (Dorothy Delasin, Jennifer Rosales), South Africa (Laurette Maritz, Ashleigh Simon), Spain (Ana B Sanchez, Tania Elosegui), Sweden (Helen Alfredsson, Carin Koch), Taiwan (Amy Hung, Yu Ping Lin), United States (Juli Inkster, Pat Hurst), Wales (Becky Brewerton, Becky Morgan).