As time goes on, everyone and everything must adapt. Sports are on the forefront of reinvention, continually trying to figure out news ways to attract and maintain fans’ and viewers’ attention.
Golf is in that same boat, and ESPN.com‘s Bob Harig expands on two of the bolder suggestions on how to revamp the dying match-play format we see in February at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
The suggestions? A stroke-play qualifier to narrow the field to 16, then turn to match play. Even bolder: Double-elimination.
The current format — 32 players in single-elimination competition, leaves few golfers on the course by the time the weekend rolls around. All the real drama — the upsets and near-misses — come early in the tournament, in the middle of the week.
Rory McIlroy, one of the top players in the world, told Harig he thinks the stoke play/match play combo could work.
“I think they can maybe do best of both worlds, where it’s 36-hole qualifying format, and then maybe the top 32 go through and play it out [in match play],” Rory McIlroy said. “I think that might be something better.
“As the matches go on, it’s especially tough for the television coverage. There’s a lot of time to fill. So it’s hard to get around that.”
Something to look for as the Arizona event tries to reinvent itself.