Now that tiny, yet significant minority known as tournament professionals are going to get a crack at it too. Match play is back and coming to a tournament in California this week. If it is long overdue, that should not stop the excitement. Of course, events such as the Ryder Cup provide a glimpse of the most thrilling format of golf to worldwide television audiences. However, those in favor of match play were always drowned out by the clatter of 156 pair of spikes heading for the first tee of yet another stoke-play event.
Match play has become the ugly relative no one wants to talk about.
Sponsors voted with their wallets and match play tournaments disappeared. From 1916 to 1959, the U.S. PGA Championship distinguished itself from the other majors with its match-play format, but then reverted to the tried and tested formula of stroke play. At home, the PGA match play ran from 1903, when James Braid was the winner, to 1979, when Des Smyth became the last champion. As golf enters its new global era, what better way to start than with the Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship. It promises to be the most exciting new event in the game, probably since Bobby Jones gathered together a few pals at a course he just built in Augusta, Ga., in the 30s.