Volvo World Match-Play Championship Set To ‘Travel’ Out Of Spain In 2013.

14 years ago by Comments Off on Volvo World Match-Play Championship Set To ‘Travel’ Out Of Spain In 2013.

Event sponsor and organisers indicated that this will be the last year the Volvo World Match-Play Championship will be played in Spain and on the Finca Cortesin course just south of Estepona on Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Volvo’s Per Ericisson indicated at a news conference today the event, firsr won by legendary Arnold Palmer in 1964 and eight years before the formation of the European Tour, is headed for a new location in 2013.

Volvo's Per Ericsson confirming the Volvo World Match-Play Championship will be played outside of Spain in 2013.

This week represents the third event this year being sponsored by the giant Swedish car and truck manufacturer after being the title sponsor of the Volvo Champions and the Volvo China Open.

Corresponding German car gaint, BMW is the Tour’s main vehicle sponsor but will not feature in hosting the first of three events this year until next week with the staging of the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

“We had a three-year agreement to be here at Finca Cortesin in Spain but we will evaluate this year and see where we go,” said Ericsson.

“We’ve had  21 years with the Volvo Masters and we have been title sponsor for 17 years with the Volvo China Open, and we want to move our tournaments around, that will be the case with the Volvo World Match Play Championship.

“So we will move the World Match-Play Championship around the world.   We want to come back to Spain but after this tournament this year, we will be taking the tournament elsewhere in 2013”.

Ericsson hinted that the 2013 version of the Volvo World Match-Play Championship will be somewhere in Europe and not in the Far East.

Of concern to Ericsson must be the fact that there is just one player inside the top-10 competing this week and that is Germany’s Martin Kaymer who is ranked No 9.

When you look back on the past three years there has been a steady decline in the appearance of the world’s best players.

Three years ago the average world ranking among the field was 31.75 points.  In 2010 it was 44.29 and this year it’s up to 66.04.

 



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