Match Play in Professional Golf

2nd-ranked Jason Day fist-pumps on No. 18 green after defeating 3rd-ranked Rory McIlroy 1-up Easter Sunday morning at the 2016 WGC Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas

(March 28th, 2016) Having played golf for most of my life, I have played almost every kind of format that can played at one time or another. Some of those formats are quite a bit more fun than others, but the one format that always seems to draw me in every time I play it is match play.

As the PGA Tour plays its one match play event of the year, the 2016 World Golf Championships Dell Match Play at Austin Country Club, the interest from golf fans across the country seems to heighten a bit more than it would for a stroke play tournament with the exceptions of the four major championships and the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The Format of Match Play

The best way to describe the format of match play is to contrast it to that of stroke play (a more thorough explanation is given in the link). To use and expand on an old piece of golf wisdom my father gave me when I first started playing tournament golf, almost all of which is done in a stroke play format at the junior level, which was, "don't worry about the guys you're playing with. It's a battle between you and the golf course." My dad hit the nail on the head as it pertains to stroke play, but in a nutshell, match play is "a battle between you and the other guy."

In other words, the only person you're required to beat when playing match play is the guy you're up against. It doesn't matter whether you shoot two strokes over par on a given hole or two strokes under par as long as you beat the guy you're up against on that particular hole.

This format tends to produce a great deal of one-on-one matchups between heavyweights of the game, a perfect example of this being the matchup between 2nd-ranked Jason Day of Australia and 3rd-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. First-class matchups like the aforementioned generate a lot of interest from golf fans and thus, high television ratings.

The History of Match Play at the Professional Level

Match play was once a highly popular format that was played at both the professional and amateur levels. In fact, it is still quite prevalent in the amateur game, with the U.S. and British Amateurs, the two most prestigious tournaments in amateur golf, both using a match play format, among a host of other high-profile amateur events.

At the professional level however, its popularity has waned. Many of the early tournaments in the infancy of the PGA Tour were held in the match play format. The fourth major of the calendar year, the PGA Championship, played by professionals only unlike the other three majors in which amateurs may qualify or be invited to play, was held in the match play format from its inception in 1916 to 1957, after which the format switched to the traditional stroke play.

Today, the only PGA Tour event which carries on the rich legacy of match play is the World Golf Championships Dell Match Play being played this week. That's one out of forty-seven events on the PGA Tour this year.

The two team competitions, the Ryder Cup (United States vs. Europe every even-numbered year) and the Presidents Cup (United States vs. International (non-Europe) every odd-numbered year) both have match play segments on the final day of play to determine the winners of the cup. Both tournaments, the Ryder Cup moreso than the Presidents Cup, are perennial favorites of golf enthusiasts across the world. But neither are considered official PGA Tour events and are only played by the top twelve players of each respective group.

How Match Play Could Help Golf

I am of the opinion that match play could help the state of the game of golf significantly. And there are a couple of things that could be done.

My first proposal is to revert the PGA Championship back to a match play format. A study done by a writer at Forbes shows that the PGA Championship is considered the least prestigious major of the four major championships and garners the lowest TV ratings of the three majors that are played on this side of the pond. Reverting the tournament back to a match play format would generate greater public intrigue and set the tournament apart from the other three majors.

My second proposal is to promote match play at local courses. The nature of match play doesn't require players to hole out to complete the hole as well as most matches taking less than 18 holes to play. Such would speed up the pace of play, especially at public and municipal golf courses, which would retain a greater number of casual golfers, who often cite the duration of time it takes to play as reason for quitting the game. The PGA Championship becoming a match play event would give the format credibility to the average golfer and make them more willing, if not eager to try the format for themselves.


Match play is a fantastic format that gives a different, more personal twist to the game of golf while still adhering to the traditions that make golf so great. A renaissance in the popularity of the format could in my opinion provide a spark to a game that's growth has been stagnant over the last few years.