Henrik Stenson doesn’t plan on competing in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play because he doesn’t like the revised round-robin format which assures players of at least three matches in the 64-man event.
“I was not that keen on the round robin,” Stenson said at the Valspar Championship on Tuesday. “To me, match play is do-or-die. Either I win or I lose. I kind of like that format.”
This will be the second year for the round-robin format for the WGC-Match Play, which went from a single-elimination, bracket-style event to a format that starts with round-robin pool play and then goes to a 16-player, single-elimination bracket to determine the champion. Stenson skipped the event last year, too.
The reigning Open champion also finds the Match Play’s spot on the schedule at odds with his approach toward the Masters, which is just two weeks after the Austin, Texas, event. He’ll play the week prior to the year’s first major in Houston.
“Yeah, I mean, the scheduling is a big part of it,” Stenson said. “Given that I want to play the week before Augusta, I’ve played in the Middle East, I’ve had a couple weeks off and then I need to pick up some pace and play a few tournaments. Then I have this stretch of three weeks, I need a breather at some point, and that’s the week I need to take off then. Like I said, you’re not going to have everyone playing every week.”
Stenson withdrew from last week’s WGC-Mexico Championship with a bout of food poisoning.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
0 comments:
Post a Comment