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WGC Match Play changing format

adwillingham

adwillingham

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Looks like the Match Play is moving to Harding Park in 2015 and has a new format per the below.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2014/07/02/wgc-match-play-new-format.html

Sixteen groups of four, playing round robin Wed-Fri and each group winner moving on to sixteen man single elimination bracket Saturday and Sunday.

I like the change personally as guys will all play minimum of three rounds. I think it moves it in line with the format at Wentworth as well.
 
Interesting. I like the course and the format seems to help some of the more marketable players stay in it longer. I'm a little bummed they moved it later in the season, as I always liked where it was on the schedule to break up the smaller tourneys around then.
 
Harding Pak is going to be a great place to for this event the just finished a redo of the greens
 
adwillingham said:
Looks like the Match Play is moving to Harding Park in 2015 and has a new format per the below.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2014/07/02/wgc-match-play-new-format.html

Sixteen groups of four, playing round robin Wed-Fri and each group winner moving on to sixteen man single elimination bracket Saturday and Sunday.

I like the change personally as guys will all play minimum of three rounds. I think it moves it in line with the format at Wentworth as well.
Click to expand...

Group play in a round robin format to determine the single elimination bracket? Where have I heard of that occurring recently? I wonder if people will still call golf a real sport if the round robin matches end in ties. :alien:

Seriously, if the changes mean that the Match Play tournament sticks around, I'm all for it. Hopefully the top names won't skip the event knowing that they get 3 days worth of competition. It's going to be played the week before the Players, there are going to be some tired players at the end of this week that go cross-country into the Players.
 
I guess CBS got tired of 1 seeds dropping out on Wed. I like this better.
 
huhhh said:
I guess CBS got tired of 1 seeds dropping out on Wed. I like this better.
Click to expand...
i am sure that did not help ratings but the week before the players might be a tough sell to some of the top guys
 
I really enjoyed the old bracket system, but I will wait till I see it to decide if I like the new format
 
Like the new format, but guessing they got handcuffed by the bay area weather, having to move it back a little bit. Seems like the guys outside of the top 64 or 100 get the shaft a bit with the players immediately following.
 
arydolphin said:
Group play in a round robin format to determine the single elimination bracket? Where have I heard of that occurring recently? I wonder if people will still call golf a real sport if the round robin matches end in ties. :alien:

Seriously, if the changes mean that the Match Play tournament sticks around, I'm all for it. Hopefully the top names won't skip the event knowing that they get 3 days worth of competition. It's going to be played the week before the Players, there are going to be some tired players at the end of this week that go cross-country into the Players.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing - a cross country trip to be in the Players instead of making the trip from Charlotte, NC. Might actually be a detterent for attracting some big names. Then again it is a one year contract with Harding Park so location can change.

I do like the change in format. Gives us a chance to see more match play for the golfers.
 
As long as match play continues on the PGA circuit I like the changes. I am always in favor of match play so this seems like a step in the right direction
 
Hopefully it's less boring. This year was pretty good, but that tourney is a snoozefest on the regular.
 
On one hand I love it because of the format and all, however; I think alot of players will still skip it due to The Players being the week after this and all of the travel that is associated
 
I love the course choice and time will tell on the format, but honestly I think it'll be nice to have a change.
 
I don't think the cross-country travel will decimate the WGC field. Many of the top players played the WGC Match Play then the Honda Classic the next week this year. The tour pros seem to enjoy Harding Park, so I think the venue will be popular, and being guaranteed three rounds (and a paycheck) should help also.

I think these two tournaments back to back may effect the field quality at Quail Hollow being the week after the Players though.
 
I like the format change. But, the date change is brutal. I can't imagine playing 18/18/18/36/36 and then flying to The Players.

Wells Fargo might be getting the worst of this deal. Or, are players going to commit to 3 weeks in a row: Match Play, Players then Wells Fargo? Which means the events before (Zurich) the Match Play and after the Wells Fargo (Nelson) getting the raw deal related to top players showing up?
 
I like the format change, but I'm not a big fan of that date. I know there never is a perfect date, but there is some really, really good tournaments around this date and I can see the tournaments a couple of dates before and couple of dates after getting hammered.
 
Playdough said:
I like the format change, but I'm not a big fan of that date. I know there never is a perfect date, but there is some really, really good tournaments around this date and I can see the tournaments a couple of dates before and couple of dates after getting hammered.
Click to expand...
I didn't notice the date change at first, that does seem to take some of the buzz away from it and the other tournaments.
 
Playdough said:
I like the format change, but I'm not a big fan of that date. I know there never is a perfect date, but there is some really, really good tournaments around this date and I can see the tournaments a couple of dates before and couple of dates after getting hammered.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. I think the article said they put it right before The Players and moved the Wells Fargo to the week after. I think you're definitely going to see some of the fields change for sure.
 
adwillingham said:
Looks like the Match Play is moving to Harding Park in 2015 and has a new format per the below.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2014/07/02/wgc-match-play-new-format.html

Sixteen groups of four, playing round robin Wed-Fri and each group winner moving on to sixteen man single elimination bracket Saturday and Sunday.

I like the change personally as guys will all play minimum of three rounds. I think it moves it in line with the format at Wentworth as well.
Click to expand...

I like it as well. Should be interesting.
 
I like the change but I wonder if some of the guys don't care for it now they have to play a couple of rounds to get their guaranteed check now.
 
I love that is moving here. And the format change looks great as well.
 
I'm bummed to see the only tour stop in Tucson up and leave, to be honest. I was looking forward to taking my son to the event next year. Oh well. Any many great golf courses as there are in the Tucson area, maybe we'll get another event, either from the PGA or the Web.com tour.
 
I think that solidifies my idea of playing there on one or my client visits outside of San Fran
 
Like the format change, but sorry to see it leave Tucson. 61 of the top 64 players do not speak as loudly as Phil, Tiger and Adam not playing because they did not like the course, one round and out and consistently losing after their first match. Tucson now gets a Champion's Tour event in March which returns to a much more fan and logistics friendly Omni Tucson National golf course. Past winners on that course were Miller, Trevino, Watson, Sluman and Mize. If most the the top Champion's guys show up (and Freddie), I predict much bigger crowds than we had for the Match Play.
 
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