The Vardon Trophy was awarded by the PGA of America to the PGA Tour 's leader in scoring average. When the award was first given in 1937, it was awarded on the basis of a points system. No award was given from 1942–1946 due to World War II . In 1947, the PGA began awarding it for low scoring average. In 1988, the trophy began going to the golfer with the lowest adjusted scoring average over a minimum of 60 rounds, with no mid-round withdrawals (instituted in 1988). The PGA of America last presented the award in 2002. The trophy was named for the Jersey golfing great Harry Vardon , who died in 1937.
22-503: The PGA Tour presents its own Byron Nelson Award annually to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average for the year. It has a 50-round minimum, and was instituted in 1980. For both awards, non-medal rounds (such as in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and The International ) count towards the minimum number of rounds but are not included in the calculation of the scoring average. Differences in
44-481: A player than a stroke play event, the format was still respected as offering a different challenge than stroke play. At the end of the 1990s, there were two significant unofficial match play tournaments, the relatively new Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf , which had a 32-man field with the finals played in Arizona , and the much older World Match Play Championship , which had a field of 16 players or less and
66-470: A revamp, moving to TPC Harding Park , a municipal course owned by the city and county of San Francisco , and became sponsored by Cadillac (who also sponsored the WGC Championship ). The tournament moved from February to April 27 – May 3, the week prior to The Players Championship . The structure was changed so the field was split into 16 four-player groups played on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with
88-525: Is headquartered in greater Austin area). The following year, as a result of the title sponsor's involvement in a merger the tournament became known as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. In 2015, Jason Day became the third player to win multiple WGC Match Plays, and in 2016 Dustin Johnson won to become the only player to have won all four World Golf Championships . In early 2019, a deal
110-751: Is sanctioned and organized by the International Federation of PGA Tours and the prize money is official money on the PGA Tour , the European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour . Tiger Woods has the record number of wins with three. The winner receives a Wedgwood trophy named the Walter Hagen Cup. The match play format fell out of favor in professional individual golf tournaments with the growth of television. The two major match play tournaments in
132-595: The Tournament of Champions event for the previous thirty seasons ( 1969 – 1998 ). In 2001, the tournament sponsor was renamed, and the tournament followed suit, becoming known as the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The tournament was held in early January by the highly regarded Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne , Australia . Nearly forty players turned down their invitation, including six of
154-939: The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's golf tournament that had been held since 1999. It was the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been contested using the match play format. From 2016 until its final year in 2023, it was held at the Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas , United States. Previous names include WGC-Dell Match Play (2015), WGC-Cadillac Match Play (2014), WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (2001–2013), and WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship (1999–2000). Before moving to Austin it had been hosted in Arizona eight times, California eight times, and Australia once. It
176-655: The 2019–20 season, the minimum rounds required to be eligible for the trophy was reduced from 60 to 44, due to cancellation of tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic . The minimum rounds for the Byron Nelson Award dropped from 50 to 35. Sixteen men have won the Vardon Trophy more than once (1937–2022). Seven men have won the Byron Nelson Award more than once (1980–2023). WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship The WGC Match Play , titled in later years as
198-461: The Vardon Trophy because of his mid-round withdrawal from the AT&;T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am . In 1987, Dan Pohl won the Vardon Trophy even though David Frost and Paul Azinger both had lower averages; Frost and Azinger were not PGA of America members, a requirement for eligibility that was dropped after the 1987 season. The minimum rounds required also dropped from 80 to 60 at that time. For
220-456: The eligibility criteria for the awards have resulted in different players winning the awards on six occasions. In 1988, 1993, and 1995, Greg Norman won the Byron Nelson Award but not the Vardon Trophy because he failed to meet the 60 round minimum for the Vardon Trophy (52, 54, and 58 rounds, respectively). This also happened to Tiger Woods in 2006 (55 rounds) and Steve Stricker in 2013 (51 rounds). In 1989, Payne Stewart failed to qualify for
242-779: The intermittent weather issues in Dove Mountain, the performance of the WGC Match Play was a concern for other reasons, with Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel remarking "Since 2007, when the Tour uprooted the Match Play from La Costa for the Tucson highlands, the galleries have been thin, the golf courses have been tolerated and the Sundays have been largely undistinguished". In 2015 the tournament underwent
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#1732855995398264-659: The introduction of the WGC event, and eventually became defunct in 2014. The format of the new WGC competition was a straight knock out tournament involving the top 64 players in the Official World Golf Ranking , with each match played over 18 holes, except the final which was played over 36 holes. The first two events were held in February 1999 and 2000 at the La Costa Resort and Spa in southern California , which had hosted
286-659: The player with the best record advancing. The four knockout rounds are then split over Saturday and Sunday. The format ensured that spectators could guarantee to see the entire field on the first three days, and some coverage would occur in primetime in the East Coast of the United States . After one year in California, the tournament moved to March with a new long term home and sponsor, the Austin Country Club in Texas , and Dell (which
308-767: The pre TV era were the PGA Championship , which converted to stroke play format in 1958, and the British PGA Matchplay Championship which faced a slow decline after the introduction of the British PGA Championship in 1955 (which had a stroke play format), and eventually became defunct in 1979. Match play became mainly associated with amateur tournaments, and team tournaments such as the Ryder Cup . Despite not being popular with television companies, and often requiring more rounds to be played by
330-555: The predecessor tournament to the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship which started in 1999. The top eight players available from four different regions, the United States, Europe , Japan, and the "Rest of the World", were selected from the Sony Rankings . Each region played three rounds of match play to determine the regional winner to send to the finals. The regional tournaments were played at various times (February to August) throughout
352-477: The second most successful player in the tournament's history after winning in 2006 and 2009 and finishing runner up in 2007 . Despite normal highs of 69 °F (21 °C) in Marana in February, the tournament was delayed by snow/ hailstones in 2011 , and snow in 2013 . Also in 2011, the format of the final was reduced to 18 holes instead of 36 holes, similar to the other rounds of the tournament. As well as
374-473: The top ten. This was largely seen as because it was played very early in the year when some players have an off season, and for many players the travel time was too long when playing a single tournament where you could end up playing just a single round. The following year the tournament returned to La Costa Resort and Spa in Southern California where it remained until 2006. In 2007 and 2008 , it
396-399: The tournament more than once: The title has been successfully defended only once, by Woods in 2004. 37°43′30″N 122°29′35″W / 37.725°N 122.493°W / 37.725; -122.493 Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf The Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf was a 32-man match play golf tournament played from 1995 to 1998. It was
418-600: The year at different courses in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. The semi-finals and finals were played in late December 1995 and early January in 1997 and 1998 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona , United States. All matches were played over 18 holes except the final which was played over 36 holes. The purse each year was US$ 3,650,000 with $ 1,000,000 going to the winner. The World Golf Championships (WGC) were formed in 1999 and Andersen Consulting remained as
440-526: Was played at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona , and from 2009 to 2014 at the nearby Ritz-Carlton Golf Club (renamed as simply "The Golf Club at Dove Mountain" in 2013). Tiger Woods is the most successful player in the WGC Match Play, and he won his three titles in Arizona, although he was less dominant than he was in the other U.S.-based World Golf Championship events. Geoff Ogilvy became
462-658: Was played in England . When the World Golf Championships were formed in 1999, it was decided one of the events would be held in match play format, which meant the return of an official match play event on the PGA Tour and the European Tour . The WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play was in effect the successor of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, which was discontinued. The World Match Play Championship in England continued, but lost prestige after
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#1732855995398484-463: Was signed for Dell Technologies to remain the sponsor, and Austin Country Club the host, until at least 2023. In March 2023, it was announced by the PGA Tour that the event would end following the 2023 edition. The tournament has a field of 64 players filled based upon the following criteria: The tournament is split into two phases: All matches are played over 18 holes. Three players have won
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