WGC Match Play
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Austin, Texas (2016–present) |
| Established | 1999, 25 years ago |
| Course(s) | Austin Country Club |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 7,108 yards (6,500 m) |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Format | Match play |
| Prize fund | $9,750,000 |
| Month played | March |
| Tournament record score | |
| Score | 18-hole match: 9 & 8 Tiger Woods (2006) Championship: 8 & 7 Tiger Woods (2008) |
| Current champion | |
 Dustin Johnson |
|
The WGC-Dell Match Play is one of the annual World Golf Championships, a match play knockout event. It was held in late February through 2014. In 2015 it was moved to the first weekend in May. In 2016 it moved to Austin, Texas and the last week of March.
Format
The field consists of the top 64 players available from the Official World Golf Ranking, seeded according to the rankings. The purse for 2016 was $9.5 million, with a winner's share of $1.62 million and the Walter Hagen Cup. Prize money is official on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour.
From 1999 through 2014, it was a single-elimination event. Since 2011, all matches have been over 18 holes, with extra holes if necessary. Previously, the final match was played over 36 holes. The losers of the semi-final matches play an 18-hole consolation match for third place. The format was a five-day, six-match tournament starting on Wednesday. For the first four days (Wednesday through Saturday) a single round of matches were played, with the semi-finals, third-place match and final played on Sunday. When the final was 36 holes, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both played on Saturday.
Beginning in 2015, the championship starts with pool play, with 16 groups of four players playing round-robin matches, Wednesday through Friday. The winners of each group advance to a single-elimination bracket on the weekend, with the round of 16 and quarterfinals on Saturday, including live prime-time quarterfinals coverage on network television, and the semi-finals, finals, and consolation match on Sunday, with the finals reaching again into prime-time network television.[1]
Weather conditions caused schedule changes in 2005, 2011, and 2013. The start was delayed by a day in 2005, and the second and third rounds were played on the following day. In 2011, with the danger of bad weather on Sunday, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both played on Saturday. Snow in 2013 delayed completion of the first round until Friday morning; the second round was played on Friday while the third and fourth rounds were both played on Saturday.
It is the successor event of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, an unofficial match play event played from 1995 to 1998 with a field of 32. It was sponsored by Accenture, the world's largest consulting firm, through 2014. In September 2014, Cadillac was announced as the new title sponsor for 2015.[2]
Host courses
From its inauguration in 1999 until 2006, the event was hosted every year by La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, except in 2001, when it was played in Australia at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Victoria. La Costa had previously hosted the Tournament of Champions for thirty years, from 1969 through 1998.
In 2007, the championship moved to Marana, Arizona, a suburb northwest of Tucson. It was played at The Gallery Golf Club for two years, then moved to The Golf Club at Dove Mountain in 2009, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The event returned to California in 2015, to TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, which had hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship. In March 2015, it was announced that the 2016–19 tournaments will be played the last week of March in Austin, Texas, with Dell as the title sponsor.
| Years | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|
| 2016–19 | Austin Country Club[3][4] | Austin, Texas |
| 2015 | TPC Harding Park[5] | San Francisco, California |
| 2009–14 | The Golf Club at Dove Mountain | Marana, Arizona |
| 2007–08 | The Gallery Golf Club | Marana, Arizona |
| 2002–06 | La Costa Resort and Spa | Carlsbad, California |
| 2001 | Metropolitan Golf Club | Victoria, Australia |
| 1999–2000 | La Costa Resort and Spa | Carlsbad, California |
Television
The high-profile event has always received network television coverage in the United States on the weekend. ESPN covered the early rounds from 1999–2006, with the 2001 edition on tape-delay from Australia. Golf Channel has held the cable rights since 2007, which includes live coverage of Sunday morning's action, in addition to weekday rounds. Network coverage was provided by ABC Sports from 1999–2006, with NBC Sports picking up coverage since 2007, with the exception of Olympic years (2010 and 2014), where CBS Sports covered the event on weekends.[2]
Finalists
| Year | Champion | Country | Seed | Rank | Runner-up | Seed | Rank | Score | Winner's share ($) |
Purse ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WGC-Dell Match Play | ||||||||||
| 2018 | Bubba Watson | United States |
35 | 39 | Kevin Kisner |
36 | 32 | 7 & 6 | 1,700,000 | 10,000,000 |
| 2017 | Dustin Johnson | United States |
1 | 1 |  Jon Rahm |
21 | 25 | 1 up | 1,660,000 | 9,750,000 |
| 2016 | Jason Day (2) |  Australia |
2 | 2 |  Louis Oosthuizen |
16 | 18 | 5 & 4 | 1,620,000 | 9,500,000 |
| WGC-Cadillac Match Play | ||||||||||
| 2015 | Rory McIlroy |  Northern Ireland |
1 | 1 | Gary Woodland |
50 | 52 | 4 & 2 | 1,570,000 | 9,250,000 |
| WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship | ||||||||||
| 2014 | Jason Day | Australia |
8 | 11 |  Victor Dubuisson |
27 | 30 | 23 holes | 1,530,000 | 9,000,000 |
| 2013 | Matt Kuchar | United States |
21 | 23 | Hunter Mahan |
23 | 25 | 2 & 1 | 1,500,000 | 8,750,000 |
| 2012 | Hunter Mahan | United States |
21 | 22 | Rory McIlroy |
2 | 2 | 2 & 1 | 1,400,000 | 8,500,000 |
| 2011 | Luke Donald |  England |
9 | 9 |  Martin Kaymer |
2 | 2 | 3 & 2 | 1,400,000 | 8,500,000 |
| 2010 | Ian Poulter | England |
9 | 11 | Paul Casey |
6 | 8 | 4 & 2 | 1,400,000 | 8,500,000 |
| 2009 | Geoff Ogilvy (2) | Australia |
8 | 8 | Paul Casey |
23 | 23 | 4 & 3 | 1,400,000 | 8,500,000 |
| 2008 | Tiger Woods (3) | United States |
1 | 1 | Stewart Cink |
22 | 22 | 8 & 7 | 1,350,000 | 8,000,000 |
| 2007 | Henrik Stenson |  Sweden |
9 | 9 | Geoff Ogilvy |
11 | 11 | 2 & 1 | 1,350,000 | 8,000,000 |
| 2006 | Geoff Ogilvy | Australia |
52 | 54 | Davis Love III |
23 | 24 | 3 & 2 | 1,300,000 | 7,500,000 |
| 2005 | David Toms | United States |
14 | 15 | Chris DiMarco |
16 | 17 | 6 & 5 | 1,300,000 | 7,500,000 |
| 2004 | Tiger Woods (2) | United States |
1 | 1 | Davis Love III |
3 | 4 | 3 & 2 | 1,200,000 | 7,000,000 |
| 2003 | Tiger Woods | United States |
1 | 1 | David Toms |
6 | 7 | 2 & 1 | 1,050,000 | 6,000,000 |
| 2002 | Kevin Sutherland | United States |
62 | 64 | Scott McCarron |
45 | 47 | 1 up | 1,000,000 | 5,500,000 |
| 2001 | Steve Stricker | United States |
55 | 90 | Pierre Fulke |
21 | 45 | 2 & 1 | 1,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship | ||||||||||
| 2000 | Darren Clarke | Northern Ireland |
19 | 19 | Tiger Woods |
1 | 1 | 4 & 3 | 1,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| 1999 | Jeff Maggert | United States |
24 | 25 | Andrew Magee |
50 | 51 | 38 holes | 1,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
Seed – the player's seeding in the event.
Rank – the player's world ranking at the date the seedings were determined.
Numbers in parentheses in the table are the number of wins by the golfer.
Records
- Most times won tournament - 3, Tiger Woods (2003, 2004, 2008)
- Most consecutive matches won - 13, Tiger Woods (2003–2005)
- Biggest winning margin: Championship match - 8 & 7, Tiger Woods over Stewart Cink (2008) (36 holes)
- Biggest winning margin: Other matches - 9 & 8, Tiger Woods over Stephen Ames (2006, 1st round)
- Longest championship match - 38 holes, Jeff Maggert over Andrew Magee (1999)
- Longest match (18 holes) - 26 holes, Scott Verplank over Lee Westwood (2006, 1st round), Mike Weir over Loren Roberts (2003, 1st round)
First round results:
| Year | Won by higher seed |
Won by lower seed |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 23 | 9 |
| 2013 | 17 | 15 |
| 2012 | 17 | 15 |
| 2011 | 19 | 13 |
| 2010 | 20 | 12 |
| 2009 | 19 | 13 |
| 2008 | 19 | 13 |
| 2007 | 21 | 11 |
| 2006 | 19 | 13 |
| 2005 | 19 | 13 |
| 2004 | 20 | 12 |
| 2003 | 19 | 13 |
| 2002 | 19 | 13 |
| 2001 | 20 | 12 |
| 2000 | 21 | 11 |
| 1999 | 14 | 18 |
| Total | 306 | 206 |
References
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- ↑ Facts and Figures - WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
External links
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