WGC Match Play format change

[Wally Fairway]

Didn't see anything posted on this

So they WGC Match play format has changed completely. They are going play the first 3 days with 16 groups or pods of 4 player, each pod will play a round robin of matches to determine the top player in that pod. The winners of the 16 pods then advance to Saturday morning sweet 16 matches, with quarter finals matches on Saturday afternoon and Sunday will then have semi-finals in the morning and the championship match Sunday prime time

Player will be assigned to a pool based on OWGR.
Each player ranked 1-16 will be the top player in a pod
Then separate pools for players 17-32, 33-48 and 49-64 with a random drawing from each pool to place the players into their pods.

The drawing of players will be live broadcast on on Monday 4/27 (they call it the selection show)

http://www.worldgolfchampionships.co...g-process.html


I will be interested to see how this plays out, it does keep all 64 players on the course for Wed/Thur/Fri matches, so that is good for spectator and for broadcasting. The 2 players who advance to the finals will play 7 round in 5 days, so I'm sure that will draw some comments.

[Golfingdad]

Not to mention a venue change. Harding Park this year and then somewhere in Texas (same town as new sponsor) after that. I like all of the ideas - they sound interesting and will make it easier for the higher seeds to advance.

[SavvySwede]

It's an interesting idea to keeps the field around longer and give the fans more golf to watch, though I don't like that they moved it to the week before THE PLAYERS Championship. Whoever does well in the Match play is going to be burned out for THE PLAYERS. They ought to keep the big events spaced out a little better so the top guys can do their best.

[Shindig]

How does filling out brackets for this work? Of all the brackets people fill out during a calendar year, Match Madness (as I like to call it) is the one I care about the most. Do I have to wait until the round robin phase is done? Do I have to predict who will come out of each set?

[dkolo]

How does filling out brackets for this work? Of all the brackets people fill out during a calendar year, Match Madness (as I like to call it) is the one I care about the most. Do I have to wait until the round robin phase is done? Do I have to predict who will come out of each set?

It's closer to a World Cup bracket with its pool play. This doesn't lend itself to March Madness replacement anymore. Which is good that it's in May now, haha.

[Chilli Dipper]

The one thing I can't make out from the provided literature: during round robin play, will matches be allowed to finish in draws, or will extra holes be required until a winner is determined? The drawback of this format is that it's going to cause a ton of congestion on the course for the first three days; between that and the added workload on the weekend, I'm not sure it would be wise to extend matches beyond 18 holes.

[dkolo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilli Dipper

The one thing I can't make out from the provided literature: during round robin play, will matches be allowed to finish in draws, or will extra holes be required until a winner is determined?

The drawback of this format is that it's going to cause a ton of congestion on the course for the first three days; between that and the added workload on the weekend, I'm not sure it would be wise to extend matches beyond 18 holes.

Based on this:

Quote:

Each four-man group will play round-robin matches on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The player with the best record in each group advances to the Round of 16 for single-elimination match play (in the event of a two-way tie in a group, head-to-head results will be used as the tiebreaker; a three-way tie will require a sudden-death playoff).  After the three days of group play are completed, the Round of 16 will be played Saturday morning, followed by the Quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. The Semifinals will be Sunday morning, followed by the Championship Match and Consolation Match on Sunday afternoon. This means that fans are guaranteed to see the field in its entirety during the first three days of competition before players begin being eliminated.

I suspect that ties will just be ties and count for more than losses and less than wins. So someone with a 2-0-1 record is higher than someone who finishes 2-1-0.

[ChrisP]

I understand why they're doing this (because players are complaining they're playing just one round and they're done), but I don't like it. The Euros do it almost the same exact way with their World Match Play, so why copy them? I liked the format the way it was with a 64-man field and single elim. If you look over the history of the Match Play, you always had a star-studded final. Had a March Madness feel to it which I thought was pretty neat. I don't know...just my two cents.

[David in FL]

I like it. Love match play.

[Chilli Dipper]

I liked the format the way it was with a 64-man field and single elim. If you look over the history of the Match Play, you always had a star-studded final. Had a March Madness feel to it which I thought was pretty neat. I don't know...just my two cents.

You mean star-studded finals like Jeff Maggert vs. Andrew Magee? Steve Stricker vs. Pierre Fulke? Kevin Sutherland vs. Scott McCarron? David Toms vs. Chris DiMarco? If anything, the new format will cause the cream to rise further to the top. Anyone can win one match to advance; now, the player who moves on will probably have to win three in a row.

[dkolo]

You mean star-studded finals like Jeff Maggert vs. Andrew Magee? Steve Stricker vs. Pierre Fulke? Kevin Sutherland vs. Scott McCarron? David Toms vs. Chris DiMarco? If anything, the new format will cause the cream to rise further to the top. Anyone can win one match to advance; now, the player who moves on will probably have to win three in a row.

I think most people are against the change because of the beautiful simplicity and symmetry of the tournament bracket. But I think the new format will yield more match play golf, if my math serves me, so I think it'll go over well in the long run.

[ChrisP]

You mean star-studded finals like Jeff Maggert vs. Andrew Magee? Steve Stricker vs. Pierre Fulke? Kevin Sutherland vs. Scott McCarron? David Toms vs. Chris DiMarco?

If anything, the new format will cause the cream to rise further to the top. Anyone can win one match to advance; now, the player who moves on will probably have to win three in a row.

One of those finals you mentioned was when the event was in Australia and most of the bigs skipped it. Two of those are back from the late 90s (Hey, we get duds from time to time). And Toms-DiMarco were top players at the time. If you look at the list since Woods-Clarke in 2000, it's been solid finals matchups almost every year.

I just liked it because it was different from the other Match Play. It was unique. Everyone loves March Madness, and this was golf's version of it. But like I said, I understand why they're doing it. The golfers have been complaining a lot about the format the last few years, and the PGA decided to make a change because of it, particularly given the fact that they are going from East Coast to West Coast back to East Coast. They didn't want the players to go all the way to California for just one round of golf.

[turtleback]

I like the whole round robin thing but I hate the back to back double rounds on Saturday and Sunday.  By the finals the guys are going to be exhausted.  I want to see the best player win, not the one with the most endurance.

[Shorty]

I like the whole round robin thing but I hate the back to back double rounds on Saturday and Sunday.  By the finals the guys are going to be exhausted.  I want to see the best player win, not the one with the most endurance.

Oh the poor little babies!

Some may have to play 30 holes in a day!!!! Maybe more.

Their frail bodies won't be able to cope.

There is no harder or physically demanding job on the planet than hitting golf balls.

I would think that this is an OH&S; issue and they'll struggle to physically walk on the back 9.

[Golfingdad]

Oh the poor little babies!

Some may have to play 30 holes in a day!!!! Maybe more.

Their frail bodies won't be able to cope.

There is no harder or physically demanding job on the planet than hitting golf balls.

I would think that this is an OH&S; issue and they'll struggle to physically walk on the back 9.

I propose that each group have an ambulance follow them around during the second round each day, just to be safe.

Just like they do in horse racing.  And that means that if any of them go down, they have to be euthanized on the spot. Come on, Tiger, I DARE YOU to WD now!!!

[dkolo]

I propose that each group have an ambulance follow them around during the second round each day, just to be safe.

Just like they do in horse racing.  And that means that if any of them go down, they have to be euthanized on the spot.   Come on, Tiger, I DARE YOU to WD now!!!

Just one ambulance per group? They're going to be dropping like flies, you can't take chances like that.

I bet Tiger's glutes will be activating overtime.

In all honesty, that's a lot of golf for these guys under tournament conditions. We saw guys start to drag hard towards the end of the really long day at the Honda a few weeks back. If you want the best quality golf, you can't push them too hard. And if you get any sort of weather, there's not much room for making up time.

[Golfingdad]

Just one ambulance per group? They're going to be dropping like flies, you can't take chances like that.

I bet Tiger's glutes will be activating overtime.

In all honesty, that's a lot of golf for these guys under tournament conditions. We saw guys start to drag hard towards the end of the really long day at the Honda a few weeks back. If you want the best quality golf, you can't push them too hard. And if you get any sort of weather, there's not much room for making up time.

I agree with Shorty in regards to how taxing it will be.  I'm not sympathetic to their "plight".

But you do have a point regarding the weather.  That's all day for many straight days in San Francisco to be praying for no rain or fog.

[Aguirre]

This is a fantastic change.

For one, it does keep the golfers around for three rounds, so at least nobody has the risk of their work week ending by noon on Wednesday.

Secondly, it's more golfers and more golf on the weekend.  And I love the prime time finish.  When the weather gets nice here, I don't want to be locked up in a room watching golf at 3-6pm.