Americans Can't Play Match Play?

I find it somewhat telling that only one American made it to the quarterfinals in the WGC Match Play (Chad Campbell). To me, it's a reflection of the U.S. performance at the Ryder Cup. There's something wrong somewhere when players like Mickelson, Furyk and (gasp!) Woods can't get it done in an event like this. What's going on? Why can't Americans excel at match play?

We play it, we just call it a skins game.

But even when we play skins, we still keep a stroke score. Done right, playing in a match, strokes taken on the first hole are simply forgotten on the second tee. You mark your card with "X's" and maybe keep a running tally of how many "up" or "down" you are, but stroke totals aren't even on the card. The rules are different, the mindset is different.

Make a rules violation in stroke skins play, you add a stroke or 2 to the hole score... you might still win the skin. Make the same mistake in a match, the penalty is probably loss of hole. No matter that your opponent lies 11 already, the hole is done, you lost it, move on. When the round lost, the match is over. No possibility of recovering... just head home. You have to play by those rules and with that mindset more than US players do while growing up in order to truly "feel" them. Tiger is hands down the best stroke player in the world... yet when the chips were down, he missed a 3 footer. If he'd needed that to win the Masters, he holes it. But even as good as his record is in match play, there is still something missing. O'hern holed one twice as long when his chance came. You have to have played in a lot of matches to understand and cope with the pressure that you feel on EVERY shot. I haven't played nearly as much as I'd like, but I know that it is harder on the psyche than stroke play. You go from the top of the world to the pits of hades every other hole. To win a bracketed tournament like the Accenture you have to deal with that pressure for 6 rounds, and it even gets to the best STROKE player in the world. Unfortunately I don't see it changing any time soon. The US players aren't going to change what they do because they play for money, and the money is in stroke play.

Well, first of all, regarding Tiger, I think he just had a bad day. His swing was not with him early, and it gave confidence to O'Hearn. As I recall, Tiger did win 3 US Amatures - match play.

It could be that the rest of the world has caught and passed the US players. A quick glance at the World Rankings finds Americans 1, 2, and 3 between Woods, Furyk, and Mickelson. That's it in the top 14!!! No more Americans until 15 with Davis Love, 16 Charles Howell, and 19 David Toms! Dimarco shows up at 23 and Cink is 26. That's only 7 players in the top 25!!!!

Why do we wonder when we get beat??? At the top, we are very good, despite the most recent results, but after that, we are not.

So far as Australia goes I agree. If you are a good young player down here you play a lot of matchplay growing up. Just about all clubs (certainly the better known ones) will have junior matchplay and senior matchplay championships as part of their annual roster of events.

Then there are the interclub "pennant" matches. For a lot of the better known clubs these are pretty much the be all and end of the clubs golf seasons. The events played vary from state to state but all have a setup pretty much typical of NSW as shown below. Metropolitan Major Pennants The Metropolitan Major Pennant Competition provides elite competition for teams representing golf clubs in the Sydney Metropolitan Area affiliated with the New South Wales Golf Association. A game is the contest between two clubs and consists of seven individual matches and one reserve match played over 18 holes of match play without the benefit of handicap. Elimination, quarter-final, semi-final and final games shall be administered by a match committee consisting of a representative of the nswga and a nominee of the host club. Eric Apperly Shield The Eric Apperly Shield is a competition for teams of young male members of golf clubs affiliated with the New South Wales Golf Association Conducted annually. Each team is comprised of six male amateur players who are under 24 years of age at the commencement of the Competition. The commencement date of the Eric Apperly Shield competition is dependant upon the arrangement of the Christmas and New Year public holidays each year, however, the first match is usually scheduled to be played early November so that the final may be completed prior to the end of January in the following year. A Game is the contest between two clubs and shall consist of five individual matches and one Reserve Match played over 18 holes of Match Play without benefit of handicap. Elimination, Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and Final Games shall be administered by a Match Committee consisting of a representative of the NSWGA and a nominee of the Host Club. Metropolitan Junior Pennant Competition The Metropolitan Junior Pennant Competition is conducted annually by the NSW Golf Association. The commencement date of the Metropolitan Junior Pennant Competition is dependant upon the arrangement of the Christmas and New Year public holidays each year, however, the first game is usually scheduled to be played midway through November so that the final game may be completed prior to the end of January in the following year. Nominations are therefore required on or before the last Friday of July each year from clubs intending to participate in the Metropolitan Junior Pennant Competition for the ensuing season. A game is the contest between two clubs and shall consist of five individual matches and one reserve match played over 18 holes of match play without benefit of handicap. Elimination, Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and Final Games shall be administered by a Match Committee consisting of a representative of the NSWGA and a nominee of the Host Club. So as you can see we do play a lot of matchplay. One thing that you need to remember is that the club pennants season holds a lot of prestige for the club, getting in to your home clubs pennants team is something all good young golfers down under aspire to. On top of this we also have national state team championships in both junior and senior ranks, often good juniors will play in both the junior and senior ranks and they also are played in a matchplay format. Getting in to your state team is considered one of the highest honours going in Aussie amateur golf. Then we also have national and state matchplay championship events, again in both junior and senior ranks. So if you are a good young golfer in NSW, it is possible to easily be playing 30 odd matchplay rounds a year. Start doing it from a young age say about 15 or so and by the time you have moved in to the senior ranks properly you may have played nearly 300 matchplay rounds in pressure situations. One more thing to remember is that clubs will actively poach good junior golfers to come and play for their clubs. Once in a team they are usually well mentored by more senior players within a team and by team managers/captains etc. It's no wonder Aussies end up being not too bad at playing matchplay events!

I think this hits the nail on the head - A lot of Americans seem to assume that because the US PGA Tour is the richest and has most publicity that the best players play there all the time. A look at the world ranking shows that some of the best 50 players in the world are from the US. Some, not most. I find it absolutely extraordinary that, for example, Rose's victory over Mickelson was described as an "upset". Yes, Mickelson has a higher rating, but match play is not stroke play. It's a bit like people dismissing Ogilvy's US Open victory because Phil (and Monty) made errors at the last. Last time I checked, Major tournaments went to the people who scored lowest over 72 holes. I don't want to get into the Ryder Cup thing, but, basically, the "problem" is that the rest of the world players are simply better than the Americans.