What The Golfinggods Say….

Once again the emerging strength of professional male golfers coming out of Asia was evident with victory for Thongchai Jaidee in the Malaysian Open and another three Asian Tour based players finishing in the top ten. Although conditions in tournaments played in Asian do tend to favour local players Jaidee comprehensively beat players such as Padraig Harrington and Miguel Angel Jimenez to win.

The emergence of Asian golfers onto the global stage is not by accident. Since players like Isao Aoki and Tommy Nakajima began winning tournaments outside of Asia a new infrastructure within many Asian countries was implemented. The number of practise facilities increased, as did the acceptability and affordability of the game. These changes helped to steer a generation of Asian people towards the game. With players like Shigeki Maruyama and K.J. Choi performing well most on the US PGA tour a new generation of Asian players are about to make their way onto professional tours, following in their idols footsteps. Be warned the Asian invasion is here to stay!

And so to this week.

This week sees the first of the World Golf Challenge events, the Accenture Match Play Championship, being played at the La Costa resort in California. The top sixty-four players, except Ernie Els as he has withdrawn will be gathered to compete in sudden death head to head match play.

All rounds except the final are over eighteen holes, which is the golfing equivalent of a one hundred metre sprint. A few loose shots early in the round and a player will be behind with dwindling holes remaining and the distinct possibility of an early shower. Both the quarter and semi finals are played on the same day and the final is played over thirty-six holes. The tournament format places a lot of pressure on player's mental and physical state. Last year Tiger Woods even remarked that the gruelling nature of match play would result in players having careers not past their fortieth birthday. Tiger suggested that most professionals would need to be taken away and locked in padded rooms if match play was the weekly appetite. Simply put match play is not for the faint hearted!

The past winners of this event really do represent the uniqueness of match play golf with many stars such as Tiger Woods and Darren Clarke winning but also surprise winners such as Steve Stricker, Jeff Maggert and Kevin Sutherland. Because every golfer playing has the ability to string three or four birdies together many strange results can occur. I mean who would have thought that two years ago Peter O'Malley would beat Tiger Woods? Not this reporter - so get ready for at least one or two shocks.

Although the La Costa golf course is categorised as a resort course this is still a demanding test. The course has been altered considerably over the past ten years and the two nines have also been switched. Although the fairways are forgiving in width wayward drives can still catch the rough which will be thicker than past years after high seasonal rain fall. Predominantly matches are won around La Costa by players approach and wedge play into fairly unpredictable Poa Annua bent grass greens. Finally players must have the ability to scramble around the greens in order to not give 'cheap holes' away.

Selections:

Tiger Woods: has by far the best record in this event and is the only player to have won it twice. Tiger has a formidable 20/23 win ratio in this event and has only been knocked out at the first round once. Add to this fact that Woods has won a whopping $9.5 million in WGC tournaments alone; he is clearly the one to beat.

Phil Mickelson: perhaps the hottest player on the planet right now Phil may not have a great record in this event but if he continues in his current form he must go close to winning. Basically he is ripping his drives miles and then letting that sublime short game take care of the rest. With his ability to make a lot of birdies his game seems ideally suited to the match play format. If Phil is mentally switched on this week he must go close.

Luke Donald: perhaps apart from Tiger, Luke Donald has the best mentality for match play. Never a player to get flustered and with a game that rarely gets him out of position, I suspect this tournament was made for him. A continuation of his great play so far this year will surely see him contend.

Adam Scott: he lost to Woods last year in the semi final and he knows he should have won that encounter after leading for most of the contest. If Adam can find a consistent putting stroke this week then he will contend again.

Others to mention: Stewart Cink, David Toms, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. Until next week – May The Golfinggods Be With You!