August 21 – Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Colin Montgomerie and Tim Clark have all confirmed they will be playing in the 2006 HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club, September 14-17.
The four stars qualify following the 2006 US PGA Championship, the final Major counting towards the 2006 HSBC Major Championship Rankings from which the leading 10 players are eligible. They will be joining World Number 1, Tiger Woods, Defending Champion Michael Campbell, World Number 3, Jim Furyk, current European Order of Merit leader, David Howell, and England’s Simon Khan in accepting their places in the 16-man field.
Ernie Els, six time winner of the HSBC World Match Play Championship, is thrilled to have qualified after missing last year’s event through injury; "I was really frustrated not to be able to defend my title last year and can’t wait to tee-up at the 2006 HSBC World Match Play Championship. With Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and defending champion, Michael Campbell in the field, it really would be a special one to win. I will also be interested to see how our course changes match up to match play."
Colin Montgomerie is also delighted to have secured his place in the field which will compete for a first prize of £1 million, the richest in world golf, "The HSBC World Match Play Championship is such a key event on the European Tour calendar, especially with official world ranking points on offer that I certainly didn’t want to miss out. I love the cut and thrust of match play and this is the perfect event for me ahead of the Ryder Cup."
Luke Donald, who finished T3rd in last night’s USPGA Championship said; "I am really looking forward to an exciting three weeks in Europe, kicking off at the HSBC World Match Play Championship. It looks to be a really strong field this year and I think it will be a really special week. I always look forward to playing events in the UK and especially at Wentworth where I can spend time with my family and friends."
South African star, Tim Clark, qualifies after finishing second in the US Masters and T24th at the US PGA Championship.
FINAL HSBC Major Championships Ranking after the 2006 US PGA Championship:
1 Tiger Woods 226.40 QUALIFIIES AS WORLD NO.1
2 Phil Mickelson 157.28 UNAVAILABLE
3 Geoff Ogilvy 130.25 UNAVAILABLE
4 Jim Furyk 83.33 CONFIRMED
5 Chris DiMarco 71.50 UNAVAILABLE
6 Tim Clark 66.90 CONFIRMED
7 Shaun Micheel 60.00 TBC
8 Ernie Els 57.66 CONFIRMED
9 Adam Scott 56.85 TBC
10 Sergio Garcia 56.23 TBC
11 Mike Weir 49.70 CONFIRMED
12 Luke Donald 49.28 CONFIRMED
13 Colin Montgomerie 43.33 CONFIRMED
14 Retief Goosen 40.15 CONFIRMED
15 Angel Cabrera 38.25
16 Jose M Olazabal 35.76
17 Chad Campbell 33.10
18 Steve Stricker 33.00
19 Vijay Singh 31.50
20 Fred Couples 28.75
21 Padraig Harrington 28.66
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The HSBC World Match Play Championship is officially sanctioned by the European Tour with the results counting towards the European Tour Order of Merit and Official World Golf Ranking Points. Total prize money will be £2,440,000 with all matches being decided over 36 holes.
Tickets can be purchased by calling +44 (0)870 010 9021 and on line at www.hsbcgolf.com. They will be priced as follows:
TTicket Price before September 1st Concession price before September 1st Price after 1st September Concession price after 1st September
Pro Am £15 £10 £15 £10
Thursday £30 £20 £35 £25
Friday £30 £20 £35 £25
Saturday £30 £20 £35 £25
Sunday £30 £20 £35 £25
Championship* £65 £45 £70 £50
Note:
*A Championship ticket will be valid for every day of the event.
Tickets will also be available to purchase at the gates during the Championship.
Under 18s and students are admitted free if accompanied by a valid ticket holder.
For hospitality information, please visit www.HSBCgolf.com
The qualifying criteria for the 2006 HSBC World Match Play Championship is:
1. The Defending Champion
2. The World Number One on the Official World Golf Rankings as at January, 1, 2006.
3. The leading ten available players, not otherwise qualified, from the HSBC Major Championships Ranking as at the conclusion of the 2006 US PGA Championship on August 21, 2006.
4. The leading two available European Tour Members from the HSBC European Tournaments Ranking:
This ranking reflects the actual World Ranking Points earned by European Tour Members from the following five 2006 events:
HSBC Champions
Dubai Desert Classic
Johnnie Walker Classic
BMW Championship
Smurfit European Open
5. The leading two available European Tour Members, not otherwise qualified, from the European Tour Order of Merit, as of August 28, 2006.
Prize money for the 2006 Championship will be £2.44 million with the following breakdown:
Winner £1,000,000
Runner-up £ 400,000
Losing Semi-Finalist (x 2) £ 120,000
Losing Quarter-Finalist (x 4) £ 80,000
First Round Loser (x 8) £ 60,000
For further information please visit our website on www.hsbcgolf.com or contact:
Media enquiries:
HSBC Head of Sports Sponsorship & Marketing Giles Morgan + 44 (0)20 7992 1386
HSBC Golf Press Office Anthony Scammell + 44 (0)20 7413 3231
IMG PR Manager Michele Mair + 44 (0)20 8233 5177
The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 125 million customers worldwide from approximately 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,502 billion at 31 December 2005, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’.
About IMG
IMG is the world’s premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over 2,300 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies are the world’s largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP), is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children’s content annually, over multiple platforms across 200 countries, including award-winning television and radio programming. It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world’s premier sporting events and has the world’s biggest sports archive with more than 200,000 hours of footage.
More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com, www.darlowsmithson.com and www.tigeraspect.co.uk
Contact:
