The PGA Championship is widely considered to be the fourth of the four men’s Majors, with many fans and commentators calling for changes to the grand old championship.
With The Masters, US Open, The Open and even The Players Championship all growing in stature, the PGA Championship appears to be losing ground at the top of the sport.
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The PGA Championship actually started life with a match play format, before switching to stroke play in 1958.
While match play is arguably the most entertaining format to watch, as seen in the likes of the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, it has struggled in individual professional tournaments.
There are a number of reasons why match play is no longer on the schedule. Firstly, the final match can sometimes be underwhelming, especially if it is between two lesser names or one player has a big lead.
TV networks like to be able to show the big names like Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau on Sundays, and match play risks that not happening.
A tightly fought McIlroy vs DeChambeau final is the dream scenario but the chances of that happening are slim.
Then there’s the on-site experience. Tens of thousands of fans watching one group does not make for great viewing.
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These are a couple of reasons that have led to match play essentially vanishing from the professional tours.
The WGC-Match Play ended in 2024, while the World Match Play Championship, founded in 1964 and played at Wentworth for 45 years, was last played in 2014. The DP World Tour also no longer hosts a match play tournament, while the LPGA is the only elite circuit still using the format.
The WGC-Match Play hasn’t taken place since 2024
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It clearly hasn’t worked in recent years, but is that really a reason to just completely abandon it? I don’t think so.
Match play is how the PGA Championship started and it is arguably the most-played format at grassroots and club level. What does the PGA of America stand for? Grassroots and club golf.
It would also be a genuine identity of the PGA Championship. The Masters is The Masters, the US Open is the extremely hard one, the Open is the old, historic one in the UK played on links golf and the PGA Championship is the match play one. That could work, right?
The golfing calendar is crying out for a big match play tournament following on from the HSBC World Match Play and WGC-Match Play, so this really could be an open goal, if done correctly.
“I think match play is the purest form of the game,” Rory McIlroy said this week.
“I think it’s a shame that we don’t have any match play really in the schedule apart from the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup. It would be nice to get some more match play on the schedule for sure.”
So, how could it work? Here are some of my ideas, and let me know yours in the comments section below, I’d be interested to see if you agree or disagree.
What could a match play PGA Championship look like?
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Match play brings some challenges, but that does not mean it should not be considered. There are plenty of clever brains in the golfing world that could bring a genuinely excellent and additive match play Major back.
While it hasn’t been done correctly in recent years, it works very well in tournaments like the US Amateur Championship so completely ignoring it is a touch lazy.
Firstly, a match play PGA Championship would require the field size to decrease from 156 players to 128. This would accommodate a knockout bracket that could either be done via a random draw or via a seeding system, worked out by world ranking.
A way to increase ticket sales and allow for fans to see more golf would be to turn it into a five-day tournament, with matches starting on Wednesday.
It’s an extra day of ‘work’ for the pros and those going deep into the tournament would have a couple of 36-hole days, but it is a Major Championship and it is supposed to be demanding.
Here’s how I would propose it working:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Day
Matches
Monday
Practice day
Tuesday
Practice day
Wednesday
Round one (64 matches)
Thursday
Round two (32 matches)
Friday
Round three (16 matches), Round four (8 matches)
Saturday
Quarter finals (4 matches), Semi finals (2 matches)
Sunday
36 hole final, 3rd-place match (18-holes)
To increase the amount of golf for fans to watch, I would also propose a PGA professional event running concurrently. The 20 club pros struggle in the main event and realistically show no real chance of winning.
Last year, all 20 missed the cut and none of the professionals finished within seven strokes of the total needed to make the weekend. In 2024, two of the 20 made the cut with finishes of 72nd and 77th from the 78 who progressed through to the final two rounds.
Michael Block in 2023 is certainly an outlier, with his remarkable T15 finish a brief moment of joy for what the PGA of America calls the Corebridge Financial team. He was the lone club pro to make the cut at Oak Hill, with the next-best finisher three adrift of the mark.
Robbing them of a chance to play in a Major seems harsh, but the PGA Championship needs to innovate, and a 16-man PGA Championship Professional Match Play could be a good compromise.
It would award the winning pro with a ‘mini’ Wanamaker Trophy, perhaps even an exemption into next year’s main PGA Championship, and give fans on-site more golf to watch. There would also be plenty of highlights to show on TV.
Here’s how I would propose including that:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Day
Matches
Monday
Practice day
Tuesday
Practice day
Wednesday
Round one (64 matches)
Thursday
Round two (32 matches), Club pro first round (8 matches)
Friday
Round three (16 matches), Round four (8 matches), Club pro quarter finals (4 matches)
Saturday
Quarter finals (4 matches), Semi finals (2 matches), Club pro semi finals (2 matches)
Sunday
36 hole final, 3rd-place match (18-holes), Club pro final (18-holes)
This would allow for a 36-hole final (two loops of 18), a third-place playoff and a club pro final all on Sunday, which would be four (up to) 18-hole rounds to watch for on-site fans vs just one or two in previous match play events.
The losing quarter- and semi-finalists could also feed back into a separate six-man bracket to decide positions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, with significant prize money on the line and a larger gap from 8th to 9th-place to reward players for making it into the last eight. The last eight could also earn exemptions back into the following year’s PGA Championship.
They would certainly need to work some things out and approach it with some innovative eyes, but the PGA Championship going back to match play could be a huge success.
What do you think? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments section below. Could a match play PGA Championship actually work?