Tucson Getting At Least One More Match Play

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For Some's Immediate Displeasure...

World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship will return to Tucson area in 2012

Gerald Goodman named executive director of event at The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain

 MARANA, Ariz. – The PGA TOUR, on behalf of the International Federation of PGA Tours, and Accenture have announced that the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship will again be played at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., in 2012.  The event, which is the first of four World Golf Championships of the season, has been played in the Tucson area since 2007 and at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain since 2009. The 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship is scheduled for February 20-26.

“We’re pleased to announce the extension of our partnership with The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain for the 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship,” said David Pillsbury, Executive Vice President, Championship Management.  “The community of Tucson has supported professional golf for decades, and we’ve enjoyed five years of exciting, match-play golf since the Accenture Match Play Championship moved to Marana in 2007.  I’d like to thank Accenture for its continued support as title sponsor of the event and as Umbrella Sponsor of the World Golf Championships.  I’d also like to recognize and thank David Mehl, owner and developer of The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, for his partnership.  We look forward to another successful Accenture Match Play Championship in 2012 when Luke Donald returns to defend his title.”

“Accenture is pleased to return to Marana, Arizona and The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club with the Accenture Match Play Championship in 2012,” said Roxanne Taylor, Accenture Chief Marketing & Communications Officer. “We look forward to again working with The Ritz-Carlton, the Tucson Conquistadores, the International Federation of PGA Tours and the hundreds of event volunteers to make the 2012 tournament the best yet for the thousands of spectators who attend the tournament and for those who watch it on television broadcasts around the world.”

Enough 2012 references for you?

A one-year extension suggests there is still a desire to go elsewhere when the new television contract begins. But where?

Casey Says Reports Of His Succumbing To Jason Day's Gamesmanship Provided LOL Moment

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Steve Elling talked to Paul Casey about the look he supposed gave Jason Day after having to putt out in their WGC Match Play encounter a couple of weeks ago.

"I was honestly laughing out loud at what was written," Casey said Tuesday at the Cadillac Championship.

In an admitted attempt to make his opponents cringe, Day was making his foes finish even the shortest putts in their matches. Day dispatched Casey in the second round, a notable upset.

Casey said that any outward manifestation of frustration had nothing to do with any of Day's ploys.

"I have played in a lot of matches," said Casey, who won the World Match Play in Europe and is a two-time finaliest at the Accenture. "I have pretty much seen it all. I was mad at myself. I played like crap."

As for the Day ploy, Casey shrugged.

"We putt 'em all out every week," he said.

"America needs to wake up to match play. I used to think baseball was boring until I realized how much is actually going on out there. It's the same with match-play golf."

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The latest pond scrum between Steve Elling and John Huggan features an interesting dicussion about the unusual role Fanny Sunesson is playing as a looper and also now and sporting an instructor badge as Martin Kaymer's Deepak Chopra.
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"The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is leaving Tucson. What do the French say? Fait accompli? Yes, in any language, it is terminal here."

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That's the Arizona Daily Star's Greg Hansen on the prospects of the match play's return to Tucson after next year's event.

Wade Dunagan, the executive director of the last three Match Play events, will be the first to go. The PGA will appoint new leadership soon, and the tournament itself will follow, probably after the last putt drops in February 2012.

If it doesn't make it for another year, it will be a surprise, but pro golf is full of surprises. Who could have ever predicted that Tiger Woods would be eliminated at Dove Mountain by the likes of Thomas Bjorn, Nick O'Hern and Tim Clark?

At this stage, it's fluid. Anything goes.

This would be a good place to insert some perspective, some damage control, from Finchem and the tour, but he was not made available for comment in the days he spent at the Ritz-Carlton. You pick the appropriate term: This type of treatment for a city that has played host to the PGA Tour since 1945 is (a) insulting, (b) arrogant or (c) bad business.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Hansen was kind to not point out that Dove Mountain was a Finchem/Nicklaus vision that was doomed from the start because of its location and the always fatal awarding of a tournament to a course that hasn't been played yet.

Donald Wins Golf's Fifth Major!

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Yep, this week was that good in terms of quality play, compelling match-ups and result. The new world No. 1 lost to a consistent, if sometimes frustratingly talented Englishman. But Donald played superior golf all five days, eliminating the supposed fluky nature of running into a buzzsaw. (And it's worth noting that the other two semi-finalists have been playing at an elite level over the last year.)

Sure, the course is dreadful in terms of producing atmosphere and risk-reward situations, but it's not so horrid that it gets in the way of quality play.

From a fan's perspective, the match play has never been better. In terms of daily must-see golf with an interactive twist for fans (nice going Golfweek!), every day was must-see TV. It didn't hurt that there was a fun mix of storylines and a little controversy. Shoot, the match play is my fifth major! Check that, the PGA Championship is in serious decline. The match play's better!

More importantly, how did you do in your Golfweek bracket? I had Kaymer, but my dismal early week performance would not have been enough to overcome had he won.

It's A Scarf, It's A Keffiyah, It's A Snood: New World No. 1's Neckware Generates Much Needed Semantics Debate

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I would have though Marty Hackel's pronouncement of scarf would have made this established case law, but apparently there is still some question about what to call new world No. 1 Martin Kaymer's neck embellishment during Saturday's match play.
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Cary Grant Estate Calls: Martin, We Want Our Scarf Back!**

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You have to admire the bold fashion move by Martin Kaymer, especially since he has been vehemently opposed to stripes, patterns or anything else that a good anal-retentive German would oppose.

Still, it was a shock to see his cold weather, uh, accoutrement, during Saturday's match play. Maybe a gift from his recent Middle East appearances?

In case you were wondering, Kaymer got a thumb's up from Golf Digest fashion man Marty Hackel:

"At this stage - without a contract for 2012, without a word from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem or the Accenture high command - paranoia creeps in."

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Greg Hansen notes the uncertainty surrounding the Accenture Match Play's future at Dove Mountain.

When the Tucson Conquistadores aggressively chased the Match Play event, then located in Carlsbad, Calif., it wasn't much of a secret. Conquistadore Russ Perlich, who was also a PGA Tour board member, estimated he flew to the tour's Florida headquarters "umpteen times" over several years to broker the deal.

About 18 months before leaving golf-saturated Southern California, the Match Play people scouted potential sites in Las Vegas, the greater Phoenix area and in Santa Barbara, Calif. It settled on Tucson for five reasons: climate; the Conquistadores; a 60-year history of community support for the Tucson Open; the promise of a new golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus; and an on-site hotel built by Ritz-Carlton.

It seemed to be enough to please the golf people for at least 10 years, but business is business, right?