Volvo World Match Play Championship

Named after the new sponsor now Volvo World Match Play Championship traditional golf tournament will be held at the invitation base in match play format. Depending on the sponsor, it changed hands several times his name. Recently it was HSBC World Match Play Championship. The event was held at the swanky Wentworth Club near London every year in mid -September. The winning prize of £ 1 million was surpassed by any other golf tournament.

After a year's break, the tournament will continue in 2009 with the new title sponsor for at least three years and each held in the fall and for a new mode in Cortesín Finca Golf Club near Malaga. In 2013 the competition was held in Bulgaria and will be hinkünftig held in different locations in Europe.

Invitation Criteria

There were 16 players invited to set qualification criteria. Among them were the defending champion, the world number one and ten other available placed the HSBC Major ranking, which was based on the World Golf Rankings. Add to that the two top finishers came in the European money list and the HSBC European ranking.

Mode

The first round ( second round ) was announced by the seedings, with the defending champion was always set as number 1, and then placing in the world rankings were essential. The first played against the 16th, the 2nd to the 15th and so on.

The individual matches were each in a day over 36 holes, one round of golf (18 holes ) in the morning and one in the afternoon, discharged. With a tie, extra holes were played until a winner was. The tournament was over four days (Thursday knockout round, quarter-finals Friday, etc ) so that two players at the final Sunday fought out the final game, and playing off the losing semifinalists in Flight before the third place. 2006 and 2007 accounted for this so-called consolation game.

New mode from 2009

The 16 participants were divided into four groups, in which case everyone played against each over the entire 18 holes. To win, you got two points, a draw brought each player a point. In addition, the difference between won and lost holes went into the rating, to determine the rankings on equal points. The group winners played in the semifinals, which went through 36 holes and was discharged after the classic match play criteria. Even the final was a match play over 36 holes, while the semifinal losers playing off such a hole about 18 for third place.

New mode from 2011

Since 2011, 24 golfers playing in eight groups of three men - every man for himself ( a draw is worth 1 point, a win 2 points) - of which the two best of each group come to the last sixteen. With the same number of points a separate piercing is discharged. The remaining 16 players are playing then a knock- on, each pairing, the finale, over 18 holes running ( plus any extra holes in a tie). Another change is the elimination of the game for third place.

Importance

Held for the first time in 1964, this competition was for decades as a kind of world championship in match play. You could see the absolute world elite at the start, and the winners list read like a Who's Who in professional golf. Is Since the introduction of the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship, part of the exclusive World Golf Championships tournament series, and from 1999 held, however, more and more top golfers from the U.S. and the PGA TOUR renounced the HSBC World Match Play Championship. This competition event includes a field of 64 players, composed of the current world rankings, and the new date is also better recognized.

The significance of the HSBC World Match Play Championship for the world rankings, however, was very large because the winner received almost as many points as for a major victory.

List of winners

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