World’s Best Golfers to Compete in Accenture Match Play Championship Feb. 20-24 At The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain Outside Tucson, Arizona
Marquee World Golf Championships event celebrates 10 years of global competition
TUCSON, Ariz.; Feb. 8, 2008 – The prestigious World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship will mark a decade of play when 64 of the world’s best golfers, representing more than a dozen countries in addition to the United States, square off Feb. 20-24 on the South Course at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz.
The 64 elite players, as identified by the Official World Golf Ranking, will go head-to-head in five days of nail-biting, single-elimination competition for a $1.35 million winner’s share of the $8 million prize purse and the sought-after Walter Hagen Cup, named after golf’s greatest match-play competitor.
The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain, located approximately 20 miles north of Tucson, is hosting its second consecutive Accenture Match Play Championship. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, in his first start on the PGA TOUR, won last year’s contest at Dove Mountain and is expected to defend his title there again this year. Seven of the previous eight Accenture Match Play Championship competitions, including the inaugural event in 1999, were played at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., and the 2001 competition was played in Melbourne, Australia.
The Accenture Match Play Championship is the cornerstone event of the World Golf Championships, a series of three global golf tournaments that traditionally attracts one of the strongest fields in golf. The match-play format of the Accenture Match Play Championship is unique among the World Golf Championships events and delivers some of the most exciting and compelling golf that fans see all season. The rules of engagement for single-elimination match play are clear and simple: win or go home.
“Match play, with its hallmark unpredictability and pressure, is a head-to-head competition that mirrors the global business world that we and our clients must compete in every day,” said Accenture Chairman & CEO William D. Green. “The Accenture Match Play Championship captures the spirit and culture of Accenture – to continually achieve high performance.”
Unlike stroke play, which adds up all strokes from multiple days of play to produce a winner, match play is a hole-by-hole format that rigorously tests a golfer’s skill, strategy and nerves. At the 7,351 yard, par 72 South Course, players will match each other shot-for-shot and hole-for-hole, culminating in a grueling 36-hole championship match on Sunday, Feb. 24. The world-class players competing must bring their best games and perform at their highest levels for five consecutive days to have a chance of winning the Accenture Match Play Championship.
The Accenture Match Play Championship is further distinguished by four 16-player brackets that were added in 2003. The 64 players are divided into four brackets of 16 players, each named in honor of one of golf’s greatest players: Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Gary Player and Sam Snead. Players in each of the brackets are seeded No. 1 through No. 16, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 16 seed in the first round, No. 2 pairing off with No. 15, No. 3 meeting No. 14 and so forth.
Viewed in more than 140 countries, the Accenture Match Play Championship will be telecast live for a total of 27.5 hours over the five days. In the United States, The Golf Channel will lead off with 12 hours of live coverage Wednesday-Friday, Feb. 20-22 from 2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. (with replays from 8:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and on Wednesday from 7:30 p.m.–11:30 p.m.) and four hours of live coverage on Saturday, Feb. 23 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., followed by 3.5 hours of coverage on Sunday, Feb. 24 from 10:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. NBC will provide eight hours of weekend coverage, on Saturday, Feb. 23 from 2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. and on Sunday, Feb. 24 from 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. All times are Eastern Standard (EST).
About The Accenture Match Play Championship This year marks the 10th playing of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. The Accenture Match Play Championship is one of three World Golf Championships sanctioned and organized by the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Southern Africa Tour. The other World Golf Championships are the Bridgestone Invitational and the CA Championship. For more information, please visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 175,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
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