WGC Match Play Winners and History

WGC Match Play Winners And History

In 2016, the WGC Match Play acquired a new sponsor in Dell, while continuing the “pool play” format that keeps all the players around until Friday. The 2016 tournament also had a new venue: The Austin Country Club.

The 2020 Dell Match Play was canceled due to COVID

The pool play format groups the 64 player field into sixteen four player groups. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, each group will play round-robin matches. The player with the best record in each group continues to the “Sweet Sixteen” on Saturday for single elimination. The “Elite Eight” matches will be held Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning will feature the Final Four, and the Championship and consolation matches will be held Sunday Afternoon.

It’s a neat fix that guarantees three days with every player in the field. It also eliminates the freak win that sends a top seeded player home after the first day. That occurs far more often than fans — and television producers — would have liked.

The WGC Match Play Championship is the successor event of the Anderson Consulting World Championship of Golf, a 32 player, unofficial event played from 1995 to 1998. In 1999, the event became part of the World Golf Championship series, hosted by La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. It was held at that resort from 1999 to 2006, with a one year side trip to the Metropolitan Golf Club in Victoria, Australia. That turned out to be unpopular, and it has not again left the United States. The WGC Match Play Championship was been held at the Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, it moved to the Ritz Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain, Arizona. It was at TPC Harding Park in 2015.

The prize of $9 million is official on the PGA Tour, the European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. In addition to the $1.4 million winner’s share, the last man standing also takes the Walter Hagen Cup. The name is appropriate, as Hagen is widely considered to be the finest match player ever.

Prior to the unofficial Anderson event, the PGA Tour held the Seiko Tuscon Match Play Championship from 1984 to 1986. Jim Thorpe twice won that event. The PGA Championship was match play from its inception in 1916 to 1958. The US and British Amateur Championships also are match play events, although the US Amateur experimented with medal play from 1965 to 1972. Resistance to match play surely comes from the television networks, who cannot be thrilled at the possibility of having the marquee stars ousted on day one, with four more days to come. The solution — not yet used — would be to use a double elimination format.

Participants in the Anderson event were chosen from the top eight players available from four different regions, the United States, Europe, Japan, and the “Rest of the World”. The positions were determined by the Sony Rankings. Each region played three rounds of match play to determine the regional winner to send to the finals. The regional tournaments were played at various times (February to August) throughout the year at different courses in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

• Most times won tournament – Tiger Woods (3 wins)
• Largest Championship Match Victory (36 holes) – 8 & 7, Tiger Woods over Stewart Cink (2008)
• Other lopsided match (18 holes) – 9 & 8, Tiger Woods over Stephen Ames (2006, 1st round)
• Longest championship match – 38 holes, Jeff Maggert over Andrew Magee (1999)
• Longest match (non-championship) – 26 holes, Scott Verplank over Lee Westwood (2006, 1st round), Mike Weir over Loren Roberts (2003, 1st round)

A list of WGC Match Play Winners follows. Also included are the winners of  the WGC Cadillac Match Play Championship, The WGC Accenture Match Play Championship and the Anderson Consulting Match Play Championship.

Year	Champion	Seed	Runner-up	Seed	Score
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
2023	Sam Burns	13	Cam Young	15	6&5
2022	Scottie Scheffler	5	Kevin Kisner	29	4&3
2021	Billy Horschel	32	Victor Perez	31	3&2
2020	Cancelled COVID
2019	Kevin Kisner	48	Matt Kuchar	23	3&2
2018	Bubba Watson	35	Kevin Kisner	36	7 & 6
2017	Dustin Johnson	1	Jon Rahm	21	1 up
WGC-Dell Match Play
2016	Jason Day (2)	2	Louis Oosthuizen	16	5 & 4
WGC-Cadillac Match Play
2015	Rory McIlroy	1	Gary Woodland	50	4 & 2
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
2014	Jason Day	8	Victor Dubuisson	27	23 holes
2013	Matt Kuchar	21	Hunter Mahan	23	2 & 1
2012	Hunter Mahan	21	Rory McIlroy	2	2 & 1
2011	Luke Donald	9	Martin Kaymer	2	3 & 2
2010	Ian Poulter	9	Paul Casey	6	4 & 2
2009	Geoff Ogilvy (2)	8	Paul Casey	23	4 & 3
2008	Tiger Woods (3)	1	Stewart Cink	22	8 & 7
2007	Henrik Stenson	9	Geoff Ogilvy	11	2 & 1
2006	Geoff Ogilvy	52	Davis Love III	23	3 & 2
2005	David Toms	14	Chris DiMarco	16	6 & 5
2004	Tiger Woods (2)	1	Davis Love III	3	3 & 2
2003	Tiger Woods	1	David Toms	6	2 & 1
2002	Kevin Sutherland	62	Scott McCarron	45	1 up
2001	Steve Stricker	55	Pierre Fulke	21	2 & 1
WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship
2000	Darren Clarke	19	Tiger Woods	1	4 & 3
1999	Jeff Maggert	24	Andrew Magee	50	38 holes