The European tour is approaching the grand finale, with a fast pace of tournaments one more beautiful than the last. This morning the Volvo World Match Play Championship is in the starting blocks (from today to Sunday) at The London Golf Club, in Ash in England, where Graeme McDowell defends the title conquered last year in Bulgaria. The Northern Irishman confirmed his talent for this head-to-head competition formula during the Ryder Cup, from which he emerged undefeated, also grabbing an unhoped-for success in the singles, with an extraordinary final recovery. Since then he hasn't taken up the irons yet, but it's a safe bet that in England he'll defend his crown with all the stubbornness he's capable of.
The formula of this championship is knockout, the participants, divided into 4 groups, are only 16 and they will meet in the Italian round and points classification. At the end, the first two of each group will access the second phase with the quarter-finals on Saturday and the semi-finals and finals, for the first and third place, on Sunday.
The Italian Francesco Molinari is also part of this elite, who will have to contend this morning with the tough Thai Thongchai Jadiee, finalist in 2013. The Chicco group, named after the legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, also includes the Swede Henrik Stenson and the South African George Coetzee. In the second round, on Thursday, Molinari will fight with Stenson and in the third, on Friday, with Coetzee.
The reigning champion is in the group Gustaf Larson (co-founder of Volvo, who died in '68) together with the Dutchman Joost Luiten, the Finn Mikko Ilonen and the Frenchman Alexander Levy, fresh from his success in the Portugal Masters last week and who today he will find the excellent McDowell as his first obstacle.
The Welsh Jamie Donaldson, the American Patrick Reed, the Swede Jonas Blixt and the Englishman Paul Casey will fight in the Mark McCormack Group (lawyer, sports agent and writer who died in 2003), while they will be in the Assar Gabrielsson Group (another founder of Volvo ) Victor Dubuisson from France, Stephen Gallacher from Scotland, Shane Lowry from Ireland and Pablo Larrazabal from Spain. The prize pool is 2.250.000 euros.
On the North American front, however, the games reopen on Thursday with the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open tournament, at the TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, with a prize pool of 6,2 million dollars. For the occasion, Billy Horshel, the young outsider winner of the FedexCup 2014 and the mega bonus of 10 million dollars, is also back on the scene.
However, the theme that still holds sway in the US is yet another defeat in the Ryder Cup for the stars and stripes team. To run for cover, the PGA has decided to set up a task force that includes Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and that examines all the mechanisms that lead to the formation of the team for Ryder, finally developing a winning recipe. Nothing to do with the captain, whose name will only come out next year, but with the way in which the US arrives at the competition, with the stated aim of bringing the cup back to the States.
"The Ryder Cup is our most valuable asset in the competitive arena - reads a note - and the PGA of America has decided to put the maximum energy and resources into supporting one of the greatest events in the world of sport".
