Drastic action needed to save WGC Dell Match Play
WHEN The Open Champion and the Olympic Champion decline to play in a WGC event, then you know there is a problem.
That’s what has happened with Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose opting out of the WGC Dell Match Play in Texas.
Throw in Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler as well, and there are four big names who are highlighting the problems this event faces.
Its position on the calendar, a fortnight before The Masters, is the biggest one.
These four guys all have ambitions to compete at Augusta and to do that, they don’t think a week of match play golf is the right way to prepare.
It underlines that there is no competition between the Majors and the WGCs. There is not too much difference in prize money, but there is a vast gulf in status.
But it also shows the riches on offer. Stenson, Rose, Scott and Fowler are all multi-millionaires and can afford to miss such a lucrative tournament because there is always another one just around the corner.
In pure golf terms, everyone will remember this year’s Masters Champion. You can’t say the same about being the WGC Match Play Champion.
As soon as the golf year begins, Augusta is in every player’s thoughts. They are either trying to get in or trying to find form.
With each year, The Masters seems to get bigger and bigger. It’s become the most iconic event in golf.
Because of that, the closer you get to the tournament, the more it looms on the horizon. All other events pale into insignificance.
Plus, the WGC Match Play cannot continue in its current format. It is not proper match play.
The idea of having 16 groups of four players leaves me cold. I don’t like the idea of a guy losing a match and having a second chance.
I know why they do it. The TV companies and sponsors are afraid of losing the star names on day one – as would have happened last Wednesday with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
Instead, they have this halfway house and it will never catch on with the public. It doesn’t really interest me.
It only becomes proper match play when the straight knockout format begins.
For this event to have a strong future, it needs to find a more suitable place in the schedule. For me, that means towards the end of the season.
I would also reduce the field to just 32 players and make it straight knockout. That is the only way a match play event can thrive.
You want players in form who have been enjoying a good season. They bring that form into the match play and suddenly you have great games.
That was the secret of the old World Match Play at Wentworth. A small field, the best players, a great course. It was a magic formula.
There is room in the calendar for a match play event. Spectators and players do enjoy it, but let’s cut out the gimmicks – especially those three-man play-offs to qualify for the last-16.