Match Play gets lost in the crowd
In the days before the golf calendar was filled with events nearly every week of the year, the HSBC World Match Play Championship was considered a perk for the world's best. There were not many tournaments outside of the official ones in the United States and Europe. And few that paid such a nice sum of money.
Over the years, however, golf events of every variety sprung up all over the place, and the Match Play Championship was just another in a long line of tournaments fighting for its place.
That still remains the case, but you can't argue with the tournament's 40-year history that dates to 1964, when it was known as the Piccadilly Match Play Championship. Title sponsors have come and gone -- Colgate, Suntory, Toyota, Cisco -- but some great names have competed in the match-play format.
Arnold Palmer was the first winner, and other past champs include Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Ernie Els.
| Where they're playing |
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 This week: Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Site: Greensboro, N.C. Course: Forest Oaks Country Club (7,246 yards, par 72) Television: Thursday: 4-6 pm ET (USA) Friday: 4-6 pm ET (USA) Saturday: 3-6 pm ET (USA) Sunday: 3-6 pm ET (ABC) Defending champ: Rocco Mediate
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In fact, Els, the defending champion, is looking to join Player and Seve Ballesteros as the only five-time champions of the tournament. Helping Els is the fact that it is played at Wentworth, his home course outside of London.
The tournament used to take some criticism because it was run by International Management Group, and, typically, the 12 players invited, or most of them, were IMG clients.
HSBC decided to change things. The banking company wanted a fairer process of eligibility for a tournament that will pay more than $1.66 million to the winner and some $75,000 for just showing up.
The defending champion and world No. 1 were guaranteed spots, with the 10 remaining places going to players based on their finishes in the major championships. That is how Mike Weir, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel are in the field. Because European players fared poorly in the majors, none would have qualified were it not for defections of players such as Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry. However, Vijay Singh opted to make the trip overseas and play.
They were replaced by Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, Germany's Alex Cejka and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson, the only Europeans in the field. Notably, there are no British players, a first since the event's inception.
The first-round pairings at Wentworth are: Stephen Leaney vs. Tim Clark, Singh vs. Cejka, Chad Campbell vs. Jacobson and Len Mattiace vs. Bjorn. Els, Curtis, Micheel and Weir all have first-round byes.
Other factors hurt the World Match Play Championship. There's another one, of course. In 1999, with the inception of the World Golf Championship events, came the Match Play Championship. It is a 64-player tournament that goes directly off the World Ranking. That tournament has become a big one in golf and counts on all the world's money lists.
This tournament doesn't count on anyone's list, nor are World Ranking points earned.
So it is a glorified exhibition for a lot of money.
But it is the only match-play event where each match is contested over 36 holes. Els, Weir, Curtis and Micheel get first-round byes.
Can Davis Love III and Jim Furyk keep their Player of the Year hopes alive on the PGA Tour?
Furyk probably needs to win two events to stay alive, while Love can get back in the hunt with one. Both are playing in the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro this week.
| THE COURSE: CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO |
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| The name is the same, but the course is different. Forest Oaks, the home to the Greensboro tournament for 25 years, has gone through expensive changes. Love's design team rebuilt the 18 greens, added some 200 yards and changed four holes. Already with a reputation for being one of the toughest tests on the tour, Forest Oaks should be even sterner. If the rough is difficult, scores will not be very low. And for those who played last week in Las Vegas, where every hole seemed like a birdie opportunity, this will be like a U.S. Open test. |
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Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com.
