HSBC World Match Play takes the focus in Europe this week
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2003 HSBC World Match Play Championship | Preview | 14 Oct 2003
The HSBC World Match Play takes centre stage in European golf this weekend although there is still much interest in what is happening in Spain, where so many are trying to hold on to European Tour cards as the regular season draws to a close.
The World Match Play has come under many names in its colourful forty year history. Piccadilly, Colgate, Suntory, Toyota and Cisco have all had their turn with naming rights sponsorship but when HSBC decided to run with it this year for the first time the event has taken on a new dimension.
Challenged for supremacy by the Accenture Match Play Championship as the number one Match Play Championship of the World, the event needed a boost to ensure that it would attract the leading players in the world. This has been a problem for the event since around the mid 1970’s. The arrival of HSBC has certainly boosted the event in terms of prizemoney but there still exists the problem of all four major winners not making themselves available, although we will see three of the four. This year sees the Masters winner Mike Weir, British Open Champion Ben Curtis and PGA Champion Shaun Micheel in the field but the star turn Tiger Woods will not be there as is the case with US Open Champion Jim Furyk.
When Arnold Palmer beat Neil Coles back in the 1964 final the event’s success over such a long period would hardly have been anticipated. Much of that success has come as a result of the suitability of its venue, Wentworth Golf Club near Virginia Water, Surrey, to this format. The course lends itself to the intimate atmosphere of match play. A heavily wooded golf course, there are few holes that can be seen from others so there is always that feeling of focus on a particular match. It is a fine golf course as a layout also, having been designed by the great Harry Colt back in the 1924.
Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros have each won the event five times with Ernie Els having four titles to his name.
Els will be the number one seed this year with Weir, Curtis and Micheel seeded two, three and four respectively. The beauty of this for those mentioned is that they avoid round one and take on the winners of round one matches in round two. Twelve players are in the field so the eight non-seeded players play four 36-hole matches to determine who will advance to round two.
US Open runner up, Stephen Leaney, fresh from the joys of newly found fatherhood, will take on PGA third placed, Tim Clark in the first of the day one matches. The winner will face Els in the next round.
British Open runner-up Thomas Bjorn plays Masters runner up Len Mattiace in round one, the winner to face Mike Weir.
In the third match, PGA runner up, Chad Campbell, will take on Frederik Jacobsen the winner to play Ben Curtis. Jacobsen had top tens at the US Open and British Open.
In the final match of the day Vijay Singh who was runner up at the British Open and a previous winner here takes on Alex Cejka, fourth at the PGA for the right to face Shaun Micheel in round two. It seems rather ironic that Vijay Singh should have to earn the right to play Micheel.
Draw (seeded positions in brackets)
(8) Stephen Leaney AUS v (9) Tim Clark SA (Winner to play (1) Ernie Els SA)
(5) Vijay Singh FIJI v (12) Alex Cejka GER (Winner to play (4) Shaun Micheel USA)
(6) Chad Campbell USA v (11) Fredrik Jacobson SWE (Winner to play (3) Ben Curtis USA)
(7) Len Mattiace USA v (10) Thomas Bjorn DEN (Winner to play (2) Mike Weir CAN)
For those feeling sorry for the first round losers don’t be. They are guaranteed 75,000 pounds or $A180,000 with the winner of the final on Sunday to receive 1 million pounds ($A2.4 million).
This is not an official event on the European Tour in terms of prizemoney but with the likes of Els, Singh and Weir it is sure to capture the imagination of the British golfing public once again.
