Five Of The World's Top 11 Golfplayers Already Qualified As Championship Looks
Set For Another Unrivalled World Class Field.Two Major Champions, a Ryder Cup
winner and a former Volvo Masters champion are the first four players to qualify
and confirm their entry into the 24-man 2011 Volvo World Match Play Championship
via the refined qualification criteria devised by Volvo and set to ensure one
of the highest quality international fields on the European Tour in 2010.
Major Champions Graeme McDowell and Y E Yang; Ross Fisher, the current Defending
Champion who made a successful Ryder Cup debut as part of Europe's winning Ryder
Cup Team; and 2008 Volvo Masters champion Søren Kjeldsen will all head to the
Finca Cortesín in Southern Spain for the Volvo World Match Play Championship
which takes place from May 19-22, 2011.
Next year's Championship, which will once again feature the successful round
robin group format in the early stages, will see the field increased from 16 to
24 players with a modified qualification criteria guaranteed to gather together
one of the highest quality fields in the world. The field will compete for an
increased prize fund of ?3.4 million and a first prize of ?800,000, one of the
highest on The European Tour.
Sunday saw five more world class players seal their places in the 2011 Volvo
World Match Play Championship at the 2010 European Tour season finale in Dubai.
Robert Karlsson secured his place as the winner from the Dubai Golf Championship
while 2010 Race to Dubai winner, Martin Kaymer, World Number One, Lee Westwood,
World Number Eight, Ian Poulter and winner of the recent WGC-HSBC Champions,
Francesco Molinari, won their places as the leading four players not otherwise
exempt on the final 2010 Race to Dubai Rankings.
Increasing the field from 16 to 24 world class players with a specially revised
criteria devised will ensure only the most in-form successful international
players will win a coveted place at the 2011 Volvo World Match Play
Championship. On arrival at Finca Cortesín the players will be divided into
eight groups of three players to be played on Thursday and Friday with 16
players progressing to Saturday in a knock-out format with the semis and final
played on Sunday.
Ross Fisher, the first player to secure his place in the 2011 field as the
defending Champion, said "The list of past winners of the World Match Play
Championship reads like a ?Who's Who' of world golf and having grown up watching
the Championship when it was played at its original Wentworth home, it was a
dream come true to actually win it. I love the thrill of match play and I am
really looking forward to returning to the beautiful Finca Cortesín to defend my
title."
YE Yang, who became the second man to seal his spot in the field by winning the
Volvo China Open added, "I have never played in the Volvo World Match Play
Championship so I am delighted to include it in my schedule for next year. It is
a very prestigious tournament with a lot of history and I hear Finca Cortesín is
really luxurious and a fantastic match play course. I am excited to make my
debut there in May."
Graeme McDowell and Søren Kjeldsen are the latest to confirm having finished
first and second respectively in the Andalucía Valderrama Masters last month.
The Northern Irishman, who won the 2010 US Open Championship at Pebble Beach and
holed the winning putt for Europe in The Ryder Cup, has now reached a career
high ranking of 11 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
McDowell, whose first European Tour victory was at the 2002 Volvo Scandinavian
Masters, enthused, "I am delighted to have qualified for my first Volvo World
Match Play Championship. Fresh from the Ryder Cup I am, of course, already
anticipating another match play event with great excitement. As everyone knows,
I love match play so this will certainly be one of the highlights on my
schedule in 2011. I like the idea of the ?champions league' style group format
seeing how different player's styles match up against each other and think it is
great for the spectators and the players to have this variety on the schedule in
the shape of a match play tournament. I am looking forward to my debut in this
historic event and also to enjoying the wonderful hospitality on offer at Finca
Cortesín which I recently experienced first hand when I stayed there during the
Andalucía Valderrama Masters."
Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen, who qualified following his second place finish at the
Andalucía Valderrama Masters, continuing the extraordinary run of success he has
enjoyed in Spain including wins at the 2008 Volvo Masters and the 2009 Open de
Andalucía de Golf. He said, "I don't know what it is but I always seem to play
well in Spain, maybe it is the wonderful climate or the great golf facilities
but I arrive in Spain and my golf game just seems to go up a notch. This is the
first Volvo World Match Play Championship I have qualified for so I am really
excited. I won the Volvo Masters just down the road at Valderrama so it would be
fantastic to be able to do the Volvo double at Finca Cortesín."
Per Ericsson, President of Volvo Event Management Golf, explained, "This is a
great quartet of players and together with the latest qualifiers they represent
a fantastic start in our efforts to assemble a world class field that is even
better than the all-star 16-man line up we attracted to the 2009 edition of the
Volvo World Match Play Championship."
"We continually strive to improve and enhance the Volvo World Match Play
Championship and having taken the bold step to move the event from the UK to
Spain last time, we are further improving it by increasing the number of
players, and therefore the depth of world class golf on offer, whilst moving to
a new, permanent spring date is another big decision that will pay dividends for
us."
"I am sure that everyone who comes to the magnificent Finca Cortesín Golf Club
and Hotel next May, players and their families, spectators and members of the
media will love the special ambience of a venue fit in every way for champion
golfers."
Guy Kinnings, Managing Director of IMG Golf, EMEA added "We were very pleased
with the success of the 2009 Volvo World Match Play Championship and are very
happy to have such a forward thinking partner as Volvo whereby we continue to
work hard together to improve this already great event."
Vicente Rubio, Managing Director, Finca Cortesín added, "Since hosting the
Championship in 2009, our very first European Tour event, we have all been
eagerly anticipating the return of so many of the world's class players to our
Resort. We had such wonderful feedback with regards to our golf course and
hotel facilities after the first Championship and we are working hard to ensure
that everything is, once again, in perfect order for us to host our second World
Match Play Championship in May.
To get a complete picture of the fantastic venue and all required info from
Volvo and Finca Cortesín, each player who qualifies for the Volvo World Match
Play Championship will receive an iPad where all of this can be found.
For further information on the Volvo World Match Play Championship, including
the Card of the Course, the Prize Money breakdown, the Qualification Criteria in
full, and a selection of video interviews, please visit
www.volvoworldmatchplay.com
