PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The deadline to qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is Monday, but some players have already decided they will not participate in the season’s third World Golf Championship.
Following a second-round 69 that moved him into a tie for seventh at the Valspar Championship, Justin Rose explained his reason for skipping the event, which will be played in two weeks in Austin, Texas.
“It’s so close to the Masters. Doesn’t offer you the truest feedback on your game and doesn’t offer you the opportunity to really find out where your game is at heading into a major,” said Rose, who also skipped the event last year. “You can win games scrambling and lose games playing great.”
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Rose, like Henrik Stenson who also plans to skip the Match Play, said he’s not a fan of the round-robin format, which assures players at least three matches.
“That’s the nature of match play. If you won a match play tournament you have to accept the consequences of what that tournament is about. It’s about 18 holes and the best guy that day wins,” Rose said. “Try to come up with more contrived versions to keep the stars around for three days is, in my opinion, not true match play.”
Rose did say he will “probably” play the event next year following a schedule makeover that will include The Players moving to March and the PGA Championship in May.
Source: Internet
