CARLSBAD, California – Feb. 15, 2005 – The champions from 2004’s four major championships and The Players Championship are currently in the top 64 of the Official World Golf Ranking with one week remaining before the field is finalized for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.
Phil Mickelson showed why he was able to capture the 2004 Masters Tournament by finishing on top of the leaderboard at last week’s FBR Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was Mickelson’s 24th PGA Tour victory. Currently ranked No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Mickelson won his first major championship last year and finished in the top 10 in all four majors. Mickelson finished the year third on the PGA Tour Money List with more than $5 million earned in 22 events. Last year, at the Accenture Match Play Championship, Mickelson lost to runner-up Davis Love III in the quarterfinal to finish T5.
Ranked one spot below Mickelson in the world rankings is 2004 U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen. He also ended the season in great fashion, winning The Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola. In just 16 events on Tour last year, Goosen earned more than $3 million and finished sixth on the money list.
Todd Hamilton surprised the golf world with his victory at the 2004 British Open. However, with solid play throughout the rest of the season, Hamilton proved that his major championship was no fluke. Hamilton, at age 38, was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He entered the season with only 12 PGA Tour events under his belt, having played primarily in Japan over the last decade, with 14 international victories during that period. This will be his first Accenture Match Play Championship.
It was no surprise when Vijay Singh won the PGA Championship last year. Singh put together one of the finest seasons in golf history, posting nine wins and earning a PGA Tour-record $10,905,166, while becoming No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He became just the sixth player in Tour history to accumulate nine wins in a season and first since Tiger Woods in 2000. The others: Paul Runyan (9/1933), Byron Nelson (18/1945), Ben Hogan (13/1946, 10/1948) and Sam Snead (11/1950). Singh also led the TOUR in top-10s for the second straight season with 18 in 29 events.
With his victory at The Players Championship, Adam Scott, went from rising young gun on the PGA Tour, to one of the game’s top players. With seven top-10 finishes in just 16 starts, including another victory at the Booz Allen Classic, Scott finished the season seventh on the PGA Tour Money List with more than $3.7 million earned. Scott has an 8-3 record in three appearances at La Costa Resort and Spa, having taken Tiger Woods to extra holes in his quarterfinals match in 2003 enroute to a third-place finish.
“We are excited to have the winners of some of golf’s greatest championships from 2004 qualified for our tournament again this year,” said Executive Director Michael Garten. “This is always an exciting time of the year to watch how the match-ups of the world’s best golfers are created.”
With the top 64 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking qualifying on Feb. 14 to play in the first World Golf Championships event of the year, the following players should be watched to see how the final field plays out.
The 2005 Accenture Match Play Championship will be held February 23-27. Tickets are now on sale. For more information, please call toll free (800) 918-GOLF (4653) or log onto www.worldgolfchampionships.com.
About the Accenture Match Play Championship
This year marks the seventh playing of the World Golf Championships—Accenture Match Play Championship. The Accenture Match Play Championship is one of four World Golf Championships, which are sanctioned and organized by the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Southern Africa Tour. The other World Golf Championships include the American Express Championship, NEC Invitational and Algarve World Cup in Portugal. For more information, please visit worldgolfchampionships.com.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 100,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$13.67 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2004. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Contact:
James Cramer
World Golf Championships
Tel: 904-273-3293
Email: jcramer@pgatourhq.com
Gary E. Beckner
Accenture
Tel: 312-693-7880
Email: gary.e.beckner@accenture.com
