Is it time to make changes to the Match Play format?
By John Maginnes, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
MARANA, Ariz. --- The other day, John from Vancouver e-mailed a suggestion to those of us at the PGA TOUR Network covering the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.
Vancouver was already one of my favorite cities in North America for a host of reasons, but now I can add sound logic to the list. Among other things on that list is the fact that if you don't remove your hat before entering the 19th hole at certain clubs, you have to buy a round for the house.
John from Vancouver understands that a match play tournament, by nature, has a greater chance of being anticlimactic than a normal week. There is always more excitement on Day 1 than there is on Day 5 -- no matter who survives to the finals --- due to the sheer number of matches and potential upsets.
That is not just my opinion. It is one that was obviously expressed by the PGA of America more than a half century ago, when they changed the format of their premier championship from match play to stroke play.
So John suggested that we eliminate the 36-hole final and play both the semifinal match and the championship on Sunday. The consolation match might more sense that way, too. Say what you want, but a couple of years ago I heard two combatants for third and fourth place joking on the putting green before the match that they should split the pot and go home.
But if the two players have already played on Sunday morning, the consolation works better. Send those two out a half hour before the final match and let them battle.
Obviously, such suggestions create more questions than answers. Do you play the third round and the quarters on Saturday allowing for the tournament to start on Thursday? This would certainly seem to make sense for those players who competed overseas the week before and had to circumnavigate the globe to get to the desert. At the same time, these suggestions are simply naïve without factoring television into the equation. Television coverage drives the bus on the PGA TOUR. And TV has the most at stake in terms of revenue, so eliminating Wednesday may not be an option.
However, TV may listen to one argument. If Tiger wins two matches with this configuration for the competition he would be there on the weekend. Ditto for the other three top seeds. The farther into the week you can keep the world's No. 1 player around the better the tournament, and the happier are the sponsors and television executives. Having Tiger around on Saturday morning would improve ratings and drive sales at the gate.
It is obvious at the beginning of the week the format drives the event. There is nothing like the drama of win -- or go home. The problem is that far more often than not, it is the stars who are going home for the weekend, and a final without stars can't be good for ratings. It is the risk you take when you decide to stage a match play event and the reason that it is a once-a-year phenomenon on the PGA TOUR.
I am not making this suggestion, and I assume neither is John from Vancouver, to disparage the event or the world-class players who fought their way to the semifinals or the finals. Even they would tell you, though, that things are different when Tiger is on the property. When he is there, the world pays attention. He was the lead story on every sports show last week until Tim Clark did the unthinkable and spoiled the party.
When you have the most recognizable athlete on the planet at your disposal for a limited number of weeks each year, you want to showcase him. Most weeks that he plays, this is not a problem. In 13 years, he has only missed 14 cuts. He has failed to advance out of the third round, though, five times in 10 appearances at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
The players will tell you they love the match play format. Casual golf fans and golf geeks alike can get behind it for its simplicity. For us it is one of the most exciting events of the year. Maintaining the same format is an option with a tremendous amount of merit.
However, arguments for a 36-hole final dry up pretty quickly -- especially when this option offers the potential of more compelling, star-studded action deeper into the week.
John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the PGA TOUR.
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