Most commonly seen in professional team events, match play is one of the most exciting forms of golf.
Unlike stroke play or Stableford, match play can’t be played by solo golfers and needs to be played against someone else, be it a one-on-one match or team play.
When two golfers play against each other, the player with the lowest score wins the hole. If Player A wins the first two holes and Player B wins the fourth hole with the third hole halved (played in the same score), Player A would be said to be ‘2UP thru 4’ Only holes where a player wins is counted towards the score; if the two players halved the fifth hole, the score would then be ‘2UP thru 5’.
The match is won when a player or team can no longer draw the match, for example if they’re down by three holes with only two holes to play. In that case, a player would be said to have won 3&2 (by three holes with two holes left).
If a player leads by the number of holes that are left, they are said to be ‘dormie’. For example, if a player is 2UP with only two holes left to play, they’re said to be ‘dormie 2’ and cannot lose the match from that position (though if the other team wins the remaining holes, they can still draw the match.
One of the key strategic aspects of match play is that it doesn’t matter what your score is as long as it’s better than your opponent’s. Holes can be won with a double bogey and lost with a birdie depending on what your opponent does.
Played in the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, there is no longer a match play tournament on the PGA Tour calendar, though there was previously a World Golf Championship event which utilised a match play format.
In foursomes, a team will use the same ball on a hole and take turns playing it. For example, one player will tee off with the other player taking the next shot. The team will keep alternating shots until the hole is completed.
In four-balls, each player plays their own ball with the best score counting towards a hole. For example, if Player 1 on Team A completes the hole in three shots, Player 2 on Team A completes the hole in six shots, and both players on Team B complete the hole in four shots, Team A will win, as Player 1 has the lowest score of the four players.