The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is one of the annual World Golf Championships. It is a knockout event and is generally staged in late February. It is sponsored by Accenture, the world's largest consulting firm.
The Championship is a single-elimination match play event. The field consists of the top 64 players available from the Official World Golf Rankings, seeded according to the rankings. The prize money for 2012 was $8.5 million, with the winner taking $1.4 million and the Walter Hagen Cup. Prize money is official on the PGA Tour, the European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour.
Since 2011, all matches have been over 18 holes with extra holes played until there is a winner. From 1999 to 2010 the final was played over 36 holes. The losers of the semi-final matches play an 18-hole consolation match for third place. The format is a five-day, six-match tournament starting on a Wednesday. For the first four days (Wednesday through Saturday) a single round of matches are played, with the semi-finals, third-place match and final played on the Sunday. When the final was over 36 holes, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both played on Saturday.
Weather conditions meant that changes were made to this format in 2005, 2011, and 2013. In 2005 the start was delayed by a day, with both the second and third rounds being played on the following day. In 2011, with the danger of bad weather on the Sunday, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were both played on the Saturday. In 2013, snow meant that the first round was not completed until Friday morning. The second round was played on the Friday while the third and fourth rounds were both played on the Saturday.
It is the successor event of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, a 32-man, unofficial money, match play event played from 1995 to 1998.
Tournament hosts
From its inauguration in 1999 until 2006 it was hosted every year by La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, except in 2001, when it was hosted by the Metropolitan Golf Club in Victoria,Australia. In 2007 and 2008 the event moved to The Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona, a suburb northwest of Tucson. In 2009, the tournament moved to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course at Dove Mountain in Marana.
| Years | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-13 | Ritz-Carlton Golf Club | Marana, Arizona |
| 2007-08 | The Gallery Golf Club | Marana, Arizona |
| 2002-06 | La Costa Resort and Spa | Carlsbad, California |
| 2001 | Metropolitan Golf Club | Victoria, Australia |
| 1999-2000 | La Costa Resort and Spa | Carlsbad, California |
Records
- Most times won tournament - 3, Tiger Woods (2003, 2004, 2008)
- Most consecutive matches won - 13, Tiger Woods (2003–2005)
- Biggest winning margin: Championship match - 8 & 7, Tiger Woods over Stewart Cink (2008) (36 holes)
- Biggest winning margin: Other matches - 9 & 8, Tiger Woods over Stephen Ames (2006, 1st round)
- Longest championship match - 38 holes, Jeff Maggert over Andrew Magee (1999)
- Longest match (18 holes) - 26 holes, Scott Verplank over Lee Westwood (2006, 1st round), Mike Weir over Loren Roberts (2003, 1st round)
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