We interrupt the assorted debates over the ball rollback, LIV Golf, and the future of the sport to bring you the debate over the future of match play on the PGA Tour.
This past week’s World Golf Championship Dell Match Play was the last of its kind for the foreseeable future. The WGC events, which began in 1999, are being replaced by the tour’s designated events; and while nobody is shedding any tears or spilling any ink over the loss of WGCs, there are plenty of players, fans, and pundits lamenting the expected end of match play on the PGA Tour schedule.
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“It’s really the only time throughout the year besides maybe the Ryder Cup where you’re playing truly against the person in front of you, which is much more relatable to every sport we play in the world,” Jon Rahm said. “It’s fun. It’s a lot more aggressive. You see more birdies. You see a lot of things happen.”
In some ways, match play produces one of the main goals being touted by those who support the controversial proposal to roll back the golf ball: Variety and creativity of shots. While there are plenty of arguments and unknowns over whether taking some of the steam out of the golf ball will actually achieve that goal, there is no debate that match play produces far more entertaining and unbelievable shots than standard 72-hole stroke play.
Why is that? Because golf is usually a game of misses, or more accurately, limiting the damage from your misses. A popular quote attributed to Ben Hogan is that golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management. That ratio isn’t exactly the best way to showcase the nearly superhuman talent of the world’s best golfers, but it is how to win a four-day tournament where every shot counts. Match play, however, where bad execution or bad decisions cost you just one hole rather than your entire week, is an altogether different animal that surely swings that balance more towards talent.
Early on Sunday in his semifinal match versus Cameron Young, Rory McIlroy played a chip shot away from the hole and off the green, rolling the ball high up a mound beside the putting surface, allowing it to trundle slowly and wonderfully back onto the green and finish near the hole. It was a shot he’d be unlikely to play in stroke play where taking your medicine and eliminating the risk of a big number is almost always the prudent decision. Thing is, prudent decisions are rarely shared with friends over social media.
All week at Austin Country Club we watched player after player take on the water at the driveable par-4 13th hole, knowing that a mistake wouldn’t sink their week. It was guaranteed excitement.
“You need to expect the unexpected in this format,” Canadian Mackenzie Hughes said after his round of 16 win over Max Homa. “Like on the last hole there, expecting Max to do something crazy, maybe hole a wedge or make that putt. … So you’re kind of always expecting that, and you’re trying to stay on the offensive. This format can change on a dime.”
The world’s best golfers have never been better and match play allows their talent and creativity to truly shine. It’s no secret that with just four players on the course on Sunday, match play is a harder sell to sponsors, but it’s a format with a deep and rich history that’s so very obviously worth saving. If the tour’s 2024 schedule is released, as expected, without a match play event, I’ve got a hot new slogan ready. The PGA Tour: Now with more prudent decisions.