Match-play format, where players compete directly against each other to win each hole, is rarely employed on the major golf tours. This is primarily due to the impracticality of arranging a tournament in head-to-head fashion, in contrast to the standard practice of allowing 100+ professionals to measure themselves against the par of the course. The Accenture Match Play Championship (part of the World Golf Championships series) is one such rare event and has brought the (nominally) Top 64 players in the world together in Tucson, Arizona for five glorious days of mano-a-mano competition.
The next time we see match-play dividing some of these talented players will be in Valhalla in September. (more…)