“The Volvo World Match Play Championship is one of the most important tournaments in Europe.”
After a year’s hiatus, the Volvo World Match Play returns to Finca Cortesín with even more attractions than in the 2009 edition. The tournament will be played from May 19 to 22 at the magnificent course in the Malaga municipality of Casares and will feature 24 players, a different classification system and an increase in the prize money. The president of Finca Cortesín, Vicente Rubio, is very optimistic about the new edition of the prestigious competition.
-The Volvo World Match Play Championship returns to Finca Cortesín this year. What are some of the new features of the tournament compared to the previous edition?
-The truth is that it presents quite a lot of novelties, and all of them are remarkable. The first great novelty, already mentioned at the time, is the change of dates, which was done looking for a more favorable season for the interests of the tournament in order to ensure suitable weather conditions, good weather, which is a key message to convey from the Costa del Sol. The second big change is the increase in the number of players, since we have gone from a field of 16, with classification criteria linked to the Order of Merit of the European Tour and the World Ranking, to having 24 players this year. We will have those 16 players who will continue to qualify by the same system but with the increase to 24 there will be several who will qualify by winning a Tour tournament.
-The game format has also been changed….
-Correct. In addition to increasing the number of players, we also changed the format of play, something that the public who came to watch it live and the television wanted to have a weekend with a little more golf and excitement. What has been established now is to make eight groups of three players who will qualify to play the round of 16 and quarterfinals on Saturday and semifinal and final on Sunday, which doubles the golf that was seen in 2009 and gives much more excitement and content to the tournament during the weekend.
-In the previous edition there was a very high level of players and this year there have already been great figures who have confirmed their participation. Do you think that the quality of players will be surpassed?
-We were very, very satisfied with the level of the first edition, as it surpassed almost all the World Match Play tournaments that had been played in Wentworth, and this year we are going in the same line. By also increasing the number of players, there are some who would have qualified for different categories, as is the case of McDowell -who has confirmed he is coming- through his victory in the Andalucia Masters. We are very satisfied, and in fact there are many European players who were considering the possibility of playing in the United States have confirmed their participation -as is the case of McDowell- their participation in the Volvo, so we believe that the level is going to be very high, and above all that there are many players who are going to be in the top-10 of the European Tour who have already told us that they will probably come, some of them not officially, others yes, and we are very satisfied today.
-Could we expect some interesting surprises?
-With Volvo and IMG involved in the tournament, you can always expect it. An interesting thing for us is for example the current world number one, Lee Westwood, who I think will still hold that position by the time the tournament is played. I have no doubt that he will come, if he qualifies for the tournament, obviously. Regarding Americans, IMG is already working on it and they are confident that we can get some kind of surprise.
-This is undoubtedly one of the most important tournaments played in Spain and in all of Europe….
-It should be taken into account that 3,400,000 euros are distributed among 24 players, which makes it, in relation to the number of participants, and apart from the Grand Slam Cup in the Caribbean, the tournament that distributes more money per player. This makes it very attractive for players, who also like the match play format, since they do not have many opportunities to play it apart from the Ryder Cup and the tournament played in the United States. Right now, with a tradition of 46 editions and with the prize money given to the players, I would say that it is the most important tournament in Spain and one of the most important in Europe.
-Are you satisfied with the international impact of the previous edition, do you know how many viewers watched the tournament?
-It is difficult to quantify exactly, but certainly the results were better than when the Volvo Masters was played at Valderrama. Volvo, who handles these figures, has confirmed to us that the audience was higher. This higher audience is due to the fact that it is a tournament that receives players from all continents. For example, the fact that there are qualified Asians such as Yang, who has already confirmed his presence, makes the audience much higher than a normal European Tour tournament, in which Asian stars do not participate. We also have South Africans, Americans, so it is a much more global tournament than any other on the Tour, because not only players from the European Tour can participate, but also from other Tours.
-Has the course undergone any changes since the previous edition of the tournament was held in October 2009?
-The course has evolved for the better because it is obviously maturing. The incorporation of Ignacio Soto was fundamental to have the course in magnificent conditions. He is a great greenkeeper. He has changed the way of working, he has made some improvements, we have changed the bunkers and managed to keep them uniform throughout the course, something that is always a pending subject for all courses, and we have changed some tees, but not much. On hole 3 we have put a bunker on the right side of the green, which makes it much more attractive. It will be a surprise for the players.
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