GolfPlus May 2018 Digital Edition (May 2018) | Page 33

)HDWXUH
Originally a straight knock-out format, where one bad
day at the of¿ ce could see any one of the top 64 players
on the OWGR eligible to play heading home after day-
one, more recent incarnations, since 2015 and including
this year’s event in Austin, Texas, have seen round-robin
groups created, padding, to ensure each player at least
three matches, members of the media still unhappy given
the number of meaningless ¿ nal group games where one or
both players had failed to qualify for the knock-out stage.
As with most WGC events, Tiger Woods was the
biggest bene¿ ciary, winning the event on three occasions
after losing to Darren Clarke on debut in the event in 2000,
but at least, unlike the later versions of McCormack’s
match play, the cream invariably came to the top, Matt
Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day
(twice) getting their name – and hands - on the distinctive
pale blue and gold ceramic trophy.
The LPGA Tour has À irted with match play
tournaments, the HSBC Women’s World Match Play
Championship lasted just three years, between 2005 to
2007, replaced by the Sybase Match Play Championship,
which lasted just three years also, whilst the Asian Tour’s
only À irtation with what many consider to be the purest
form of the game being the team-based Eurasia Cup. And
that’s the idiosyncrasy of professional golf’s relationship
with the head-to-head format; it’s the format of choice
for some of the most thrilling and iconic events in world
golf, such as the Ryder Cup, the President’s Cup and the
Solheim Cup, all match play formats, which create high
drama, raw emotion and electrifying competition, without
exception.
But when golf was admitted back into the Olympic
family for Rio 2016, and once again for Tokyo 2020,
golf’s hierarchy eschewed the natural format of sports in
the so-called, ‘Greatest show on earth,’ opting instead for
Match Play
Ugly Duckling
During the match
the standard 72-stroke play format, reverting
to type with the staple diet of professional
circuits all around the world.
But why, when other Olympic sports such
as tennis and boxing can cope with the defeat
of any of its marquee names, such as Roger
Federer and Amir Khan before the ¿ nal, why
can’t golf, just once every four years and
on the greatest global stage of all, replicate
the drama of the Ryder Cup with knock-out
competition, mano-a-mano with something
that little bit different, and in the tradition not
only of the Olympic Games, but the game of
golf itself?
Must match play golf always be
consigned to the margins, just to suit players,
event organizers and members of the media,
or does the viewing public, on course and on
TV deserve something more imaginative?
GolfPlus
MAY
2018
43