Suntory World Match Play Championship
| Location | Kent, England (in 2014) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1964 |
| Course(s) | London Golf Club |
| Organized by | IMG |
| Tour(s) | European Tour (since 2004) |
| Format | Match play |
| Prize fund | €2,250,000 |
| Month played | October |
| Final year | 2014 |
| Score | 10 & 8 Paul Casey (2006) |
 Mikko Ilonen
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The Volvo World Match Play Championship was the name of an annual match play men's professional golf tournament which was staged from 1964 to 2014. From 2009 to 2012 the event was played at the Finca Cortesín Golf Club in Casares near Málaga, Spain, having previously been played at Wentworth Club near London. In 2013, the event was held at the Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort in Kavarna, Bulgaria. The event was traditionally played in the autumn, usually in October, but moved to a May date in 2011 and was an official money event on the European Tour from 2004 to 2014. Previous sponsors have included Piccadilly, Suntory, Toyota, Cisco and HSBC.
In 2014, the event was played in October at London Golf Club in Kent, England.
The tournament was founded by sports agent Mark McCormack as a showcase for the players he managed. The inaugural event in 1964 was won by Arnold Palmer, who was McCormack's first client. The calibre of the winners has consistently been very high, with the majority of the tournaments being won by players who have been ranked in the top two in the Official World Golf Ranking or its predecessor Mark McCormack's world golf rankings.
The event consisted of 36-hole matches played in a single day. The event had an eight-man field from 1964 to 1976. It expanded to 16 players for 1977 and 1978. In 1979, the field was 12 players, with four seeded players being given a bye in the first round. It was sometimes felt that this was unfair, as an unseeded player needed to string together eight successful rounds in four days to win, twice as many as in a stroke play tournament, whereas a seeded player only needed six successful rounds to win.
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