As the second year of the World Golf Championship (WGC)
events begins today in CA with the Andersen Consulting Match
Play Championship, GOLFWEEK's Brain Hewitt reviews the first
year's four events and previews possible changes to the
format to benefit the events' sponsors. The "candor" of
David Duval -- who opted not to play in last year's WGC at
Valderrama, Spain, citing that the scheduling and travel to
the event after the preceding week's PGA Tour Championship
in Houston were "less than appealing," "undercut" PGA Tour
Commissioner Tim Finchem's "position with" event sponsor
AmEx. Duval "wasn't the only eligible Tour player to skip"
the tournament, as Mark O'Meara, Greg Norman and Fred
Couples "also stayed home," and "their decision raised
eyebrows among potential future sponsors." Cuba Wadlington
of the Williams Co., the energy firm that sponsored Tiger
Woods' Williams World Challenge in AZ earlier this year:
"You want to get the best players. That's what is being
sold. I can appreciate [AmEx's] disappointment [with the
Spain event]." Meanwhile, Andersen Consulting "knew it was
taking a chance" when it signed on as the title sponsor of
the match-play event, and Hewitt writes the company "got
burned" last year, as "nine of the top 10 seeded players
lost in the first two rounds." While Andersen Global
Managing Dir of Marketing & Communications James Murphy said
he is "very satisfied" with his company's WGC involvement,
he added, "We have to be realistic [with match play]."
Hewitt, noting that next year's match-play event will be
held in Australia the first week of January, writes, "WGC
title sponsors have to be realistic because their events
have been squeezed into Tour schedules around the world that
already are overcrowded." Finchem ackowledged that it is
not possible to have the top players participate in each WGC
event: "We have come to grips with the fact that some
players aren't going to play" (GOLFWEEK, 2/19 issue).