The World Golf Championships are more than mere golf tournaments - they are a stage for the world's best players to showcase their talent.
In March of 1996 five of the world’’s leading professional golf organisations - the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA Tour, Southern Africa PGA and PGA Tour of Australasia - announced the formation of the International Federation of PGA Tours.
One of the most significant initiatives of the new Federation was the creation and joint sanctioning of world championship-level competition for the game’’s foremost players.
The four jointly sanctioned championship events will feature players from around the world competing against each other. The tournaments will initially have 4,250,000 euro purses and will rotate through a variety of outstanding venues worldwide. Prize money awarded will be considered “official” on the respective Money Lists of each tour.
This week the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship will start the series at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. Later in the year the NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, will take centre stage followed by the American Express Championship, contested in Valderrama, Spain. The World Team Cup will be held in 2000 at a site and date to be announced.
Of all the World Golf Championship events, the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, could be the most intriguing. Sixty-four of the best players in the world will go head-to-head in a match-play format. From 32 first-round matches on Wednesday, the field will be reduced to the Championship Match, which will be played over 36 holes on Sunday.
Each event in the World Golf Championships was developed to enhance the competitive structure of professional golf worldwide while preserving the traditions and strengths of the individual Tours and their events.
"Collectively, it's a great time for the sport and business of golf," said Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship Tournament Director Tom Stipes. "The way we engage and grow the sport of golf is to create more professional tournaments at the highest level - to bring the best players in the world together more frequently at the world's greatest golf courses."
"From a golfer's standpoint, there is nothing more exciting than match play," said 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard. "To have 64 of the best players in the world play in a match play event all in one week is very exciting. Going head-to-head with a person for 18 or 36 holes - it’’s funny because you can play well and lose, and you can play poorly and win. These are the little nuances of the game.”
This is not Andersen Consulting’’s first venture into match play. In 1994, the company sponsored the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, won by England’’s Barry Lane. Greg Norman won the following year and then in 1997 Colin Montgomerie triumphed after beating the 1997 US PGA Champion Davis Love III at the final hole. Interest increased over the years, and it was a natural fit for the event to expand and evolve into a World Golf Championships event and the beautiful La Costa Resort and Spa was selected as the venue.
The event will be held at La Costa Resort and Spa in 1999 and 2000. It will move to Australia in 2001 and return to La Costa in 2002.
