Six Aussies start at 2011 WGC Match Play Championship
Six Australian golfers are part of the 64-man field to start in this week’s WGC Match Play event.
The six best Australian golfers – Adam Scott, Robert Allenby, Geoff Ogilvy, Jason Day, Richard Green and Brendan Jones have all qualified to play in the head-to-head knock-out event as members of the best 64 golfers in the world.
The Accenture Matchplay Championship is possibly the most interesting golf tournament to watch on television. You get five days of matchplay golf (on One HD) featuring the best 64 players in the world. what more could you want. The PGA Tour website is even offering a printable bracket sheet so you can follow along at home and fill in the scores as you go! FTW!
The format for event is knockout matchplay which has meant you are left with only eight golfers for the weekend’s action. the final match was always played over 36 holes on the Sunday which was often an anti-climax.
The tournament schedule has been tweaked a little this year with the final no longer being played over 36 holes. The final day will now feature both the semi-final and the final matches of 18 holes each.
Despite the tweaks, the tournament is still flawed.
The cut throat format means a golfer can be out of the tournament after 18 holes of golf, or often less. Álvaro Quirós only played 12 holes before being beaten by Mike Weir last year.
I wonder whether a couple of days of stroke play might be a good compromise (similar to the Surf Coast Knockout tournament) to determine the top 32 or 16 players to play over the final three days.
