insideKENT Magazine Issue 24 - March 2014 | Page 12

NEWS

LONDON GOLF CLUB TO HOST
2014 VOLVO WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
QUALIFIERS McDOWELL AND STENSON QUICK TO CONFIRM THEIR PARTICIPATION
Volvo, IMG and the European Tour ended
speculation today when they confirmed that the
2014 Volvo World Match Play Championship will
be played on the International Course at the
London Golf Club, Kent, England, from the 15th19th October.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary since the
inaugural Championship, won by Arnold Palmer
at Wentworth in 1964, the 2014 Championship
will revert to a 16-man field with a prize fund of
US $3 million.
Endorsing the move to the Championship’s
former traditional October date as well as a long
awaited return to the United Kingdom, the first
two players to qualify were quick to confirm their
participation – defending Champion, Greame
McDowell and winner of the 2013 Race to Dubai
and 2013 FedEx Cup, Henrik Stenson.
McDowell commented, “I think it is fantastic
that the Volvo World Match Play Championship
will be played in England for this special
anniversary. I enjoyed everything about the
tournament last year in Bulgaria at the spectacular
Thracian Cliffs but somehow it seems right to
celebrate the Championship’s anniversary in
England, where the tournament was held for so
many years.”

Per Ericsson, President of Volvo Event
Management, said, “We are delighted to make
this announcement today and are looking forward
to returning this great Championship to England.
The UK is an important market for Volvo and,
after looking at many possible venues, we found
the London Golf Club to be ideally placed to both
host this world-class field and our most valued
customers. I am grateful to our partners IMG and
the European Tour for their ongoing support and
also to the London Golf Club for agreeing to host
the Championship.”
Charles Fairweather Chairman of the London
,
Golf Club added, “We are very excited to host
the prestigious Volvo World Match Play
Championship this October. We are looking
forward to working with Volvo, IMG and the

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European Tour to deliver what we hope will be
the best Volvo World Match Play Championship
to date and I have no doubt that the players will
find the International Course at the Club ideally
suited to match play golf.”
The Championship, begun by IMG in 1964
and organised together with Volvo since 2009,
will generate worldwide media coverage, with
approximately 1,600 hours of golf broadcast to
half a billion households, has evolved considerably
since moving from Wentworth in 2009,
successfully securing a world-class field by
qualification on merit and revising the format.
Last year the Championship was the first full
European Tour event to be played in Bulgaria at
Thracian Cliffs with the three previous editions
held at Finca Cortesín in Spain.