Archive for February, 2008

Match-play format certainly suits Tiger!

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Arizona

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…)

Will a change in format bring a change in outcome?

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

The captain of the American team for Ryder Cup 2008, Paul Azinger, has already shown great determination to do whatever it takes to wrestle the Cup back to the Americans in Valhalla in September. He introduced a radical shake up to team selection by doubling the size of his personal picks, from two to four, and has transformed the qualification criteria for the other eight players.

Now, he’s requested a change in the format of the competition itself. (more…)