World Match Play Moves To Spain
The World Match Play golf tournament is moving from its long-standing home in Wentworth to Spain with Volvo replacing the departing HSBC as the title sponsor.
The tournament is taking a break this season and will resume in 2009 with 16 players competing in a round-robin format during the early stages of the contest.
Previously the richest tournament in the golfing calendar with a £1m winner’s purse under previous sponsor HSBC, the new prize fund will be around £2.5m with the winner taking home around £592,000.
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The move to the Finca Cortesin course in Andalucia will be a blow to English golf fans who have swarmed to Wentworth since the competition’s inception in 1964. However the tournament has suffered from high-profile drop-outs in recent years with a number of top players choosing not to compete.
The switch to Spain comes in line with the season-ending Volvo Masters, which is to finish this year at Valderrama in southern Spain, moves to the Middle East and is re-named the Dubai World Championship.
The new Match Play format will have a worldwide feel to it as the four groups of four players will include the highest ranked player from each of Europe, Africa/Middle East, North America, South America, Asia and Australasia.
The top player from each of the four groups will then play in two 36-hole semi-finals to decide the finalists on Sunday.
