Match play is a scoring system for
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to
stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In match play the winner is the player, or team, with the most points at the end of play.
Although most professional tournaments are played using the stroke play scoring system, there are, or have been, some exceptions, for example the
WGC Match Play
The WGC Match Play, currently titled as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's golf tournament that has been held since 1999. It is the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been conteste ...
and the
Volvo World Match Play Championship
The Volvo World Match Play Championship was an annual match play men's professional golf tournament which was staged from 1964 to 2014.
The World Match Play Championship was a limited field event, originally contested by just eight players before ...
, and most team events, for example the
Ryder Cup and
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...
, all of which are in match play format.
Scoring system
Unlike stroke play, in which the unit of scoring is the total number of strokes taken over one or more rounds of golf, match play scoring consists of individual holes won, halved or lost. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal, counting the strokes taken on a given hole. The golfer with the lowest score on a given hole receives one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is tied (or halved). For example, in an 18-hole match, the first hole is a par-4 and Player A scores a 3 (birdie) and Player B scores a 4 (par); Player A is now 1-up with 17 to play. In the same match on the second hole, a par-5, Player A takes 8 strokes and Player B takes 5 (par); Player B wins the hole and the match is now tied (or "all square") with 16 to play. On the third hole, a par-3, both players take 3 strokes and the match is tied with 15 holes to play. Once a player is "up" more holes than there are holes remaining to play the match is over. For example, if after 12 holes Player A is 7-up with six left to play, Player A is said to have won the match "7 and 6".
A team that is leading by ''x'' holes with ''x'' holes remaining is said to be "dormie-''x''" or simply "dormie", meaning that they need one more halved hole to win the match (or that the other team must win all the remaining holes in order to halve the match). For example, if Player A is 2-up with 2 to play, he is dormie; the worst outcome for Player A at that point is a tie, unless the format calls for extra holes to determine a winner.
In a tournament event where the score is tied after the last hole (usually 18 or 36), the players will play on until a player wins a hole (sudden death). In the
Ryder Cup and other similar team events, the match is not finished this way, and the teams each receive a half point. In such events there are points accumulated over several days, playing different formats, and the total determines the winning team.
Scoring using handicaps
Scoring match play using handicaps is not done exactly the same way it is done in a stroke play event. In 18-hole stroke play where Player A is a 10 handicap and Player B is a 19 handicap, one stroke is deducted from Player A's score on the ten hardest holes (by handicap rating on scorecard). For Player B, two strokes are deducted on the hardest hole and one stroke deducted on the other 17 holes. In match play, Player A would play as "scratch" (zero handicap) and Player B would deduct one stroke on the nine hardest holes. In other words, the 10 handicap becomes zero and the 19 handicap becomes nine.
In team match play competition, all player handicaps are compared to the lowest of the handicaps. Consider an example where Team A consists of Player A1 (a 10 handicap) and Player A2 (a 15 handicap), and where Team B consists of Player B1 (a 19 handicap) and Player B2 (a 30 handicap). In this example, Player A1 plays as "scratch" (zero handicap), A2 deducts one stroke on the five hardest holes, B1 deducts one stroke on the nine hardest holes, and B2 deducts two strokes on the two hardest holes and one stroke on the other 16 holes.
Some competitions may restrict the handicap differential between playing partners. This is not required by the
USGA
The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...
but may be used by local clubs and tournaments. Using the above team play example and if a local rule limits any player to having a handicap that is at most 8 strokes higher than their partner, Player B2's handicap would be adjusted to 27 for the purposes of that competition (Player B1's handicap of 19 + 8 = 27).
Tournaments featuring match play
Currently, there are few professional tournaments that use match play. They include the biennial
Ryder Cup played by two teams, one representing the
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and the other representing
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
; the biennial
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...
for teams representing the USA and International (non-European) players;
WGC Match Play
The WGC Match Play, currently titled as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's golf tournament that has been held since 1999. It is the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been conteste ...
; and the older
Volvo World Match Play Championship
The Volvo World Match Play Championship was an annual match play men's professional golf tournament which was staged from 1964 to 2014.
The World Match Play Championship was a limited field event, originally contested by just eight players before ...
, an invitational event which is now part of the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
. The
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
, one of the
majors, used match play for its first 39 editions (
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* J ...
–
1957
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...
), but changed to stroke play in
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
.
Women's professional golf had no event directly comparable to the Accenture Championship until the
HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship
The HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship was an LPGA Tour golf tournament that was played from 2005 through 2007. It was first played from June 30 to July 3, 2005 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey. In 2007 the event moved to ...
was introduced in 2005. After it was canceled in 2007, the LPGA was without a match play event until the
Sybase Match Play Championship
The Sybase Match Play Championship was a women's professional golf tournament for three seasons on the LPGA Tour, held at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey. First played in 2010, it was the only match play format event on the LPGA T ...
was played from 2010 to 2012. Women's golf also has the biennial
Solheim Cup
The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force b ...
staged between two teams, one including
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
-born players and one including players born in Europe. In 2014, a new women's match play tournament began, the
International Crown
The Hanwha LifePlus International Crown is a biennial women's professional team golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. Eight national teams of four players each (32 players in total) participate in the match play event.
History
It debuted in 2014 at ...
– a biennial match play competition featuring teams from eight countries. From 2005 to 2008, women's golf held the
Lexus Cup
The Lexus Cup was an annual golf tournament played between 2005 and 2008 for professional women golfers contested by a team representing Asia and an international team representing the rest of the world. It was sanctioned by the LPGA Tour, , an event pitting an International team against an Asian team.
The
USGA
The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...
championships – Amateur, Junior Amateur, Mid-Amateur, Senior Amateur, and team (four-ball) for both men and women – are conducted with two rounds of stroke play to cut the field to 64 (individual) or 32 (teams), and then proceed to a single-elimination match play tournament. All elimination matches are 18 holes except for the final in individual competitions, which is 36 holes.
The European Tour and PGA Tour Australasia co-sanction a Perth (Australia) tournament that in 2017 adopts a match play format. It is conducted with three rounds of stroke play, with two cuts -- one to 65 at the end of the second round, and one to 24 at the end of the third round, then proceeds on the final day to a single-elimination match play tournament with the top eight exempt from the first round. All elimination matches are six holes, with a tie-breaker hole played twice. The first hole will be a standard par-3, and the second time around closest to pin will end the round.
The European Tour also has the
GolfSixes, which uses 16 pairs of players, by country, and uses a round robin grouping of four groups of four, with each group playing three matches with a similar format to the elimination matches in Perth, and the results determine second-day matches. Each group will play a maximum of 36 holes (six matches).
Strategy
Golfers can employ a slightly different strategy during a match play event since the scoring is different. The situation in the match and the outcome of each shot already played on a hole will both be taken into account. On the whole, match play encourages more aggressive play, especially at the professional level, where a
par is not usually good enough to win a hole. Since a very poor result for a hole is no worse than a slightly-below-average result when playing against an opponent with an average score, it often makes sense to accept the higher risk connected with aggressive tactics. However, in some circumstances players will be especially cautious in match play. For instance, a player may choose to play more conservatively if the opponent has hit a poor tee shot or is otherwise under pressure to compensate for a poor start on a particular hole, reasoning that there is a good chance to win the hole with an average result.
Alternative forms of match play
Forms of match play that allow three or more players to compete individually include "Irish match play", "Rowan match play" and
skins.
Another form is "medal match play", which combines the head-to-head match play style with medal or
stroke play scores. Each match between two players or teams of players is determined by the 18-hole medal score instead of on a hole-by-hole basis. The advantage is that ties in group or pool play can be broken by overall medal scores. This format was used in the
Piccadilly Medal
The Piccadilly Medal was a men's professional golf tournament on the British PGA tournament circuit that was played in 1962 and from 1964 to 1976. Since the circuit later evolved into the European Tour, the tournament is recognised as an officia ...
, the
Liggett & Myers Open Match Play Championship
The U.S. Professional Match Play Championship was a PGA Tour event that was played in North Carolina in the early 1970s.
The event was first played as the Liggett & Myers Open Match Play Championship in 1971 at The Country Club of North Carolina ...
, the 1986
Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship
The Tucson Open was a golf tournament in Arizona on the PGA Tour from 1945 to 2006, played annually in the winter in Tucson. It was last held at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort in late February, with a $3 million purse and a $540,000 winner' ...
, the
Dunhill Cup
The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...
,
World Golf Final
The Turkish Airlines World Golf Final was a golf tournament that was played on the 9–12 October 2012 in Turkey. This tournament took place at the Antalya Golf Club, Sultan course, in Belek, on the Turkish Riviera. It featured four of the five to ...
, and starting in 2018, albeit with a nine-hole medal score, the
Belgian Knockout
The Belgian Open (name owned by the Royal Belgian Golf Federation) is a men's golf tournament which has been played intermittently from 1910 to 2000. All editions since 1978 have been part of the European Tour. After not having been played since 20 ...
.
See also
*
Golf glossary
The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs.
0–9 ...
External links
USGA Rules and Decisions
{{Golf
Golf terminology
Rules of golf
sv:Lista över golftermer#Matchspel