Goodbye to Dove Mountain?

Only Victor Dubuisson's amazing shots could overcome the gloomy mood at the final Accenture-sponsored tournament at Dove Mountain.

Looks like the WGC—Accenture Match Play at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Course at Dove Mountain is about to change its postal code. Accenture can afford to sponsor the event, but has already announced it will not return as the title sponsor in 2015. Why cancel?

During last year’s tournament, the clouds over Dove Mountain produced four inches of snow on opening day. The clouds this year only produced uncertainty about the future, despite PGA tour commissioner Tim Finchem’s assurances that “we’re looking at a lot of different options…and don’t have any particular agenda.” 

There are four World Golf Championships: the Cadillac Championship in Doral, Florida; the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio; the HSBC Championship in Shanghai, China; and the Accenture Match Play in Marana, Arizona. These four global tournaments are organized by the Federation of PGA Tours and sanctioned by the six professional tours and the four majors.

Indications are that the Tucson-area tournament could be moving to San Francisco or an international location. Why? Dove Mountain is at 3,000 feet and is subject to rain, cold and snow. The terrain in the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains makes it difficult for spectators to walk the course. Dove Mountain is a considerable distance from downtown Tucson and the players appear not to like the Jack Nicklaus course, the desert rough and especially the undulating, fast greens.  

The final reason is match play itself. The hosting Tucson Conquistadores club has been asking for a format change for years. Match play eliminates too many good golfers early in the tournament, leaving only four golfers on the Sunday. CBS, NBC and the Golf Channel have a made-for-television event, but the format does not produce the crowds or help with the ratings.  Tucson is a small-market city and perhaps better suited for a Champions Tour event at a different venue, such as the Omni Tucson National.

The 2014 tournament

This year Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson, three of the top four golfers in the world, chose not to play the Accenture. There were, however, 61 of the top 64 golfers in the world participating, including Jimmy Walker, who in this wrap-around season of 2013-14 has already won three PGA tournaments. Other notable golfers included FedEx champion Henrik Stenson, Rory McILroy, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and rookie of the year Jordan Spieth.

Match play is a scoring system in which a game or match is won by the player winning the most holes. All other PGA events are stroke play or total score to determine the winner. If the score is 3 and 2, that means one player is up three holes with only two holes left to play. Match play is single elimination, meaning one loss and the tournament is over for that player. The format usually provides major upsets, especially in the first two rounds. 

As winner Jason Day said, “every match has the pressure of a Sunday final.” It took Day 113 holes, 39 on Sunday, and winning six matches to collect $1.53 million, 550 FedEx points and the Walter Hagen Cup.

The first day of the tournament with 64 players only produced one major upset, as Dustin Johnson, a No. 1 seed, was eliminated. Others notables going home included Keegan Bradley, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Steve Stricker and Canadian Graham DeLaet. 

The second day, with 32 golfers eliminated, the remaining top seeds were Rory McILroy, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. The sweet 16 on the third day continued to eliminate popular golfers such as Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia as well as past winners Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar. The elite eight on Saturday left only the final four of Jason Day (No. 11), Victor Dubuisson (No. 30), Ernie Els (No. 34) and Rickie Fowler (No. 56).

In the Sunday consolation round for third place, the colourful American Rickie Fowler beat South African Ernie Els one-up on the 19th hole. The final day, however, belonged to Australian Jason Day and Victor Dubuisson from France. It was Dubuisson, an relatively unknown European, who pulled off difficult bunker shots on Holes 17 and 18 and then amazed everyone with miracle shots from behind, jumping cholla cacti and rocks on Holes 1 and  9. These two shots alone propelled Dubuisson to instant internet fame. 

The two golfers played 23 holes before Day eventually won with a five-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole. As David Feherty of the Golf Channel said, “Hollywood could not write this script, unless you changed the ending in the movie Tin Cup.”

Financial loss to Marana and Dove Mountain

Feherty may be funny, but the loss of the Accenture is not. Sponsoring the tournament is not a financial problem for Accenture, which had net revenues of $28.6 billion last year. The company does sponsor other first class events, including the RBS Six Nations Rugby Championship in England. The players don’t really suffer, as they get $48,000 for just making an appearance.

The real losers are golf enthusiasts who enjoy watching professional golf, as well as the town of Marana, Arizona. Public information officer Rodney Campbell said the Accenture tournament has a $75 million dollar impact on the community annually. The organizing club will also suffer significant losses. During the last seven years, the Tucson Conquistadores have received over $10 million from the PGA, which they use to sponsor such organizations as First Tee, the Boys and Girls Club and the Special Olympics.

I hope the PGA and the WGC can find a solution to keep professional golf in Tucson.