Sybase Match Play Championship Preview

The 2011 schedule finally gets rolling in earnest (three official events in the next four weeks and eight of the next twelve) at the Sybase Match Play Championship.  Sun Young Yoo won last year's inaugural event, defeating Angela Stanford in the final by a count of 3&1.

While it is not a format which meshes well with television schedules, match play is an interesting variant from the 72-hole stroke-play norm.  Players are seeded by their Rolex Rankings, and the top 32 draw their first opponent at random.  The player who wins the most holes in that round wins the match.  Extra holes are played if the match is all square through 18 but holes are not played if one player's lead becomes insurmountable.  Six rounds of matches are required to determine the champion so the third round and quarterfinals are played on Saturday with the semis and finals on Sunday.  Brent Kelley at About.com Golf has a thorough primer on match play (scoring, rules and strategy) which should answer any question you might have on the subject.  I really enjoy the match play events for the way that every hole is meaningful yet self-contained - each hole is its own mini-contest.  Whether you lose the hole by one stroke or five, it still only counts as one so it encourages players to regularly attempt go-for-broke shots that they might normally only try in the waning holes of a regular event.

Another reason I like match play - some players thrive in the format while others, though they may be outstanding medal-players, do not.  You probably already know that Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer are match-play wizards (wizardesses?  Not witches, surely!) but you may be surprised to find out that Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen don't have winning records in match-play singles.  The one-loss-and-yer-out factor also makes predicting a winner very difficult.  Every year The Constructivist and I fill out a bracket and every year they are busted by sundown Friday.  That won't stop me from trying, though.  The course is a long one and last year seemed to favor players who drive the ball well, so I'll use that as one of my keys to pick from.

As soon as the brackets have been drawn and announced (they were expected sometime this afternoon), I'll make my picks and post them.