Graeme McDowell paired with Louis Oosthuizen in the Lucrative Volvo World Match Play Championship
Golf’s greatest contemporary players gathered at the picturesque Finca Cortesin in Spain to kick off the Volvo World Match Play Championship 2011. Five out of the top six players of the Official World Golf Ranking coupled with all four major winners for
the season have showed up to participate in what is being termed as the strongest field in the 46-year history of the championship.
The 24-player field posed for a photograph at the beautifully painted walls of the clubhouse formally dressed for the occasion, as the defending champion Ross Fisher sat in the middle holding the glittering trophy. The field will be divided in eight group
of three players each, heading into the newly formulated knock out format of the championship.
The format has been slightly altered so that the top player from each group will head straight into the quarterfinals of the championship. One of the most interesting opening pairs is the current US Open champion Graeme McDowell and the Open champion Louis
Oosthuizen.
McDowell was speaking at a press conference after the photoshoot, “It should be a lot of fun Thursday afternoon, British Open Champion begins against the US Open champion. That should be a great game.”
“We don't get a lot of opportunities on the Tour, to come and play match play championships. This is one of the more famous match play tournaments in the world. I grew up watching lots of (former host venue) Wentworths and it is great to be part of one for
the first time. I’m looking forward to it. It's a great group and it's a great field this week. It should make for a great weekend's golf,” McDowell added.
Lee Westwood, who is an avid fan of the of the Match Play format, is upbeat and confident to clinch yet another title for the season. He is coming out of a successful season where he won the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta last month to regain his world number
one title, and went over to post another victory at the Ballantines Championship in Korea, consolidating his number one rank.
Westwood’s countryman, Luke Donald is also coming out of a successful first quarter and is one of the prolific players of the Match Play format. He defeated Martin Kaymer earlier in the year to cinch the WGC Accenture Match Play title in Arizona and finished
runner-up later in the Heritage.
Meanwhile, Fisher, the defending champion, will be pulling all the tricks out of the book to retain the lucrative €3.4 million event, with a winner’s share of €800,000. The sturdy Englishman has won four times on the European Tour but has only recorded a
single win for the season at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February. The 30-year-old will be pitched in toughest of battles as the championship returns after a one-year break with the strongest of fields of its history.
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