DID YOU KNOW – WGC – CADILLAC MATCH PLAY
• Jason Day is trying to follow in the footsteps of Tiger Woods (2003-2004) and make a successful defence of the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship. Should he win for the second consecutive season, he would join Tiger Woods (2003-04, 08) and Geoff Ogilvy (2006 and 2009) as the only players to win the event twice.
• Should Jason Day win for the second season in a row, the Australian would join Tiger Woods as the only other player to make a successful defence of a WGC event.
• This event will begin the 17th year of World Golf Championship events. The first one was the 1999 Cadillac Match Play and won by American Jeff Maggert.
• TPC Harding Park will play host to the WGC – Cadillac Match Play for the first time.
• The San Francisco course is the fifth different venue to stage the match play contest. They are: La Costa Resort & Spa (1999-2000, 2002-2006), Metropolitan Golf Club (2001), The Galley at Dove Mountain (2007-2008, 2013-2014) and the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club (2009-2012).
• This is the second time that TPC Harding Park has played host to a European Tour event. The first time was the 2005 WGC – Cadillac Championship. The event was won by Tiger Woods, after defeating John Daly in a play-off.
• TPC Harding Park will now become the first course to stage two different WGC events.
• Of all the WGC events, the WGC – Cadillac Match Play Championship has been the most successful for European Tour Members, producing five different winners. They are: Darren Clarke (2000), Henrik Stenson (2007), Geoff Ogilvy (2009), Ian Poulter (2010) and Luke Donald (2011).
• There will be 29 European Tour Members competing at the TPC Harding Park in 2015. There are seven of the 29 who will be making their Match Play debuts. They are: Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka, Anirban Lahiri, Alexander Levy, Andy Sullivan, Marc Warren and Danny Willett. This brings the total number of European Tour Members to have competed in the WGC – Cadillac Match Play since 1999 to 119.
• There are five champions competing. They are: Henrik Stenson (2007), Ian Poulter (2010), Hunter Mahan (2012), Matt Kuchar (2013) and Jason Day (2014).
• This year a new format is being introduced. There will be 16 groups of four, each player playing three matches. The winner of each group goes through to the Round of 16. Each of the top 16 seeds are drawn in separate groups but the other three places will be decided by a random draw. There are three pools. Pool 1 – seeded 11-32, Pool 2 – 33-48, Pool 3 – 49-64.
