Match game

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The Match Play is (English "Match Play") is a form of play in golf , which until the introduction of Zählspiels in 1759 was the only game shape.

It is played by two parties, with one party being either a single player or a team of two players. The party that has scored the lower number of strokes ("Score") on a fairway wins the hole and receives a point that is added or subtracted from the result depending on the state of the game, as the difference between the holes won is counted. If both parties have played the same score, the hole is split and the intermediate result remains unchanged. The game is won by the party that has won the most holes over the stipulated rounds. Usually a round consists of 18 holes, but a different number of holes is possible by agreement or by the tournament management. However, a match game is only scheduled for more than one round in exceptional cases.

If there is a tie after the last hole to be played ("all square") and a winner has to be determined, so-called extra holes occur. The game continues until one player wins a hole and thus the match. This is especially the case in competitions in the knockout system, as here a player has to get into the next round. If, on the other hand, the game is only part of an aggregated result, it remains a draw. In such competitions, e.g. B. the Ryder Cup , a win with one point, a draw with half a point for the team.

If a player leads unassailable before the end of the stipulated round, match play is over. For example, if a player has a lead of three points, but there are only two holes left to play, one speaks of an end result of “3 and 2” (= 3 up and 2 to play). Colloquially, this is sometimes shortened to "3 to 2". On 18 holes, the highest possible win is “10 and 8” and the tightest (without extra holes) “1 and 0”, whereby the linguistic abbreviation to “1 to” is the rule here.

If a match game is rated net, the worse player receives so-called standard strokes, which are distributed over the holes to be played. This means that if a player with handicap 18 needs exactly one more stroke on each hole than a player with handicap 0, he has shared all 18 holes and thus the match. If he wants to win a hole, he must achieve the same or a better score than his opponent. If, on the other hand, he does at least two strokes worse on a hole, he has lost that hole.

If the number of default strokes to be granted is not a multiple of the number of holes to be played, an uneven distribution will necessarily take place. Here you orientate yourself on the degree of difficulty of the individual holes, which is determined in advance by the operator of the golf course. The handicap shots are then assigned in order from the most difficult to the easiest hole.

A special feature of match play is that you can give your opponent blows, whole holes or the whole game. A given stroke counts as holed, a given hole counts as won for the “donee”. Normally you only give the hole when you don't see any chance of winning it yourself. Free strokes show that you are sure that your opponent would have holed the ball anyway. Targeted giving can also be a tactic to lull the opponent into security. A given stroke, hole or game cannot be withdrawn.

swell

See also