TPC Harding Park to Host Next Year's Match Play Championship


On a one-time basis, the 2015 Match Play Championship will be held at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship had taken place the previous eight years in February at Dove Mountain near Tucson, Ariz.

Next year's event will be held April 29 to May 3 - the week before The Players Championship. Accenture's run as the title sponsor ended after this year's event; a new title sponsor for 2015 has not yet been determined.

In addition to the 2015 Match Play Championship, TPC Harding Park will host the PGA Championship in 2020 and the Presidents Cup in 2025.

"It's a lot more golf," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said during the announcement. "It's a ton of golf. We know the fans (in San Francisco) will relish the opportunity to have that much more golf."

The 2015 Match Play will also have a new format to ensure that all 64 players - to still be determined by the Official World Golf Ranking - for at least three days. In previous events, single-elimination matches led to the quick exits of top players and fan favorites.

The new format will be similar to the World Cup, with group play leading into single-elimination matches.