While I consider myself a golf traditionalist in a lot of ways that are annoying to people, I think this call back to the past might have more support.
The PGA Championship being played this week at Valhalla used to be a match play tournament. For its first 39 years—until 1957—a stroke play qualifier led into a match play bracket to determine the champion. It took TV networks pressuring the PGA of America to force a change to 72 holes of stroke play, a format more conducive to advertising (more on that in a moment).
I think the tournament should go back to match play.
We don’t have nearly enough match play in professional golf on an individual level, especially now that the WGC Match Play Championship at Austin Country Club has ended. The PGA Championship switching formats would create an identity it has lacked for many years.
Will this actually happen? Probably not. But let me state my case.
Why The PGA Should Switch
Each major outside of the PGA has a distinct personality.
The Masters goes back to the same iconic venue every year. It’s the Super Bowl of golf.
The Open Championship has unpredictable weather, firm conditions and links golf.
The U.S. Open is a punishing test on bastions of American golf like Pinehurst, Pebble Beach and Oakmont.
The PGA Championship is … Well, what is the PGA Championship? It’s kind of “U.S. Open lite” contested on lesser venues. It’s not a birdie fest, five of the last seven winners have failed to reach 10-under. It’s a tournament that looks eerily similar to many PGA Tour events. The most unique aspect is the inclusion of 20 club pros who typically have a ceremonial role.
If you ask most fans to rank their favorite majors, I think you’ll find the PGA getting a lot of fourth-place votes.
Why not do something a little different?
Match play is awesome. It’s a unique part of the game that doesn’t get played individually at the highest level outside of events like the U.S. Amateur.
The PGA Championship used to be a grind to win back when it was a match play event. You would regularly have to play more than 200 holes in a week to accomplish it. There was a badge of honor that came with it.
I enjoy watching 72 holes of stroke play like anyone else but I believe there is space in the golf calendar for a big match play tournament.
The reason match play has gone away is because of TV, hospitality and the fan experience. There is less golf on the course later in the tournament, which runs the risk of a boring (and early) finish. Fans congregate around one group rather than spreading throughout the course.
I think there is a solution. We shouldn’t take away the possibility of match play just because there are some obstacles that require creative problem solving.
What The Format Could Look Like
Imagine the PGA Championship starts on Wednesday with a full field.
The first three rounds are stroke play. Every player has 54 holes to prove they are worthy of getting into the match play bracket.
On Friday, you cut the field to the best 16 players. There will almost definitely be a playoff to get in, which adds to the drama.
Saturday and Sunday have two match play rounds to determine the winner. Sunday afternoon will feature an afternoon championship match to win a major.
The kicker is that the bracket to determine a champion would not be the only golf happening. The top 64 guys from the first three rounds would all play the weekend—if you don’t make the top 16, you enter into a round-robin match play pool to determine your ultimate position in the tournament.
Let’s say you are tied for 60th after three rounds. You will play three match play rounds on the weekend against other players in the field—all three being ahead of you, given that you barely made the cut. If you win those three matches, you can improve your final result up to being tied for 17th.
This ensures we get plenty of golf on the weekend, even if the focus is on the 16-player bracket.
I think it creates fun storylines. We probably get a playoff on Friday for the chance to stay alive in a major championship. The first three rounds have all sorts of urgency, given that it takes good golf to get into the 16-man bracket. Then the weekend is all about individual matches. Imagine a dark horse going on a run to the final four. Imagine a club pro like Michael Block getting in—it only adds to the Cinderella angle.
One criticism of match play is that you are more vulnerable to getting a fluke winner but we rarely saw that in the WGC Match Play Championship where recent victors (Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy) were all top guys.
If someone makes the bracket and gets through, they deserve to win.
The PGA Could Consider Other Changes, Too
While my focus is on the PGA Championship returning to a match play format, I think they have a lot of other opportunities to make golf better.
Option No. 1: How about going outside of the U.S. every now and then to host a major in other parts of the world? It’s a shame three of the four majors are in the U.S. every single year, even knowing that the big corporate dollars reside in America.
Option No. 2: What if the date shifted? The PGA Championship was forced to move to May because of the Olympics but that isn’t necessarily going to be the best time of year for some of these venues to host. I can already hear the cicadas in Louisville this week. I don’t think a fluid date is ridiculous, especially as the golf world could radically change in the coming years.
It would be nice to get more juice into the PGA Championship. There are paths to doing so.
What do you think? Is the PGA fine as it is or should changes be considered? Let me know below in the comments.
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