Tiger, Rory In Turkish Airlines World Golf Final

Eight of the world’s top players are playing golf right now in Turkey in a very interesting format—a sort of round robin match play.

In this event, the eight participating players are divided into two groups. Group One consists of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Charl Schwartzel and Matt Kuchar. Group Two is Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Justin Rose and Webb Simpson. Players in each group compete against each other in a medal-match play, round robin.

After three matches, the player ranked first in Group 1 is matched against the player ranked second in Group 2. The player ranked first in Group 2 is matched against the player ranked second in Group 1. The winners of these then meet in the finals.

I like the round-robin format, and have suggested before on this blog that it could make television more enthusiastic about match play. The argument against match play has always been the high potential of early round exits for marquee players. A round robin format for the first couple of rounds would greatly increase the chances of the big names making the weekend.

Here are the times for the Turkish World Golf Final.

Tuesday, Oct. 9:

5:30 a.m.: Rory McIlroy vs. Matt Kuchar

5:40 a.m.: Tiger Woods vs. Charl Schwartzel

5:50 a.m.: Hunter Mahan vs. Justin Rose

6 a.m.: Lee Westwood vs. Webb Simpson

Wednesday, Oct. 10:

1:30 a.m.: Lee Westwood vs. Justin Rose

1:40 a.m.: Hunter Mahan vs. Webb Simpson

1:50 a.m.: Rory McIlroy vs. Charl Schwartzel

2 a.m.: Tiger Woods vs. Matt Kuchar

6 a.m.: Justin Rose vs. Webb Simpson

6:10 a.m.: Lee Westwood vs. Hunter Mahan

6:20 a.m.: Charl Schwartzel vs. Matt Kuchar

6:30 a.m.: Rory McIlroy vs. Tiger Woods

Thursday, Oct. 11:

2 a.m.: Group A winner vs. Group B second place

2:10 a.m.: Group B winner vs. Group A second place

Friday, Oct. 12:

1:30 a.m.: Final match