Thongchai Jaidee is hoping to go one better than last year when he tees up in this week’s Volvo World Match Play Championship, but once again he will be up against a world-class field which boasts five of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team including the defending champion, Graeme McDowell.
The Thai ace lost to McDowell in the final at Thracian Cliffs Golf and Beach Resort in Bulgaria in last year’s edition of the €2.25million event, which returns to England for the first time since 2007 as the London Golf Club, in Kent, makes its debut as the host venue.
“The International Course is a great track and I’ve really enjoyed playing it in the past,” said Jaidee, who captained Asia in the inaugural EurAsia Cup earlier this year.
“The finishing holes will be very difficult, but it depends on the weather and which way the wind is blowing. But everyone has to play the same course and it should be a great week.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always a very well-organised tournament. I’ve been playing really well recently, so I hope I can continue like this and go all the way to the final again. We only play match play a couple of times a year, so it’s a nice change and I enjoy it.”
McDowell will defend the title he won in style in Bulgaria last year, beating Jaidee 2 and 1 in a high quality final to succeed Nicolas Colsaerts as champion.
The Northern Irishman again showed his formidable match play qualities in The Ryder Cup, where he boasted a 100 per cent record from three matches, most memorably coming from three holes down to beat Jordan Spieth 2 and 1 and register Europe’s first point in the Sunday Singles.
McDowell will be joined in Ash by four of his team-mates from the ‘Glory of Gleneagles’, including his foursomes and fourballs partner, Victor Dubuisson.
Before starring in The Ryder Cup, Dubuisson had already shown his fondness for the ‘mano a mano’ format in February’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he was beaten in an epic final by Jason Day.
In addition to the mercurial Frenchman, Welshman Jamie Donaldson, the man who secured the winning point for Europe, Scot Stephen Gallacher and Swede Henrik Stenson, the reigning European Number One, will also be in attendance.
Patrick Reed, who impressed by winning 3 ½ points from a possible four on his debut for the United States team at Gleneagles, is also in the field, as are Sweden’s Jonas Blixt; South African George Coetzee, who replaced the injured Thomas Bjorn; Alex Levy, who won last week's weather-affected Portugal Masters, Italian Francesco Molinari – who played in the 2010 and 2012 Ryder Cups – and Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal, who claimed the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the beginning of the year.
It is precisely 50 years since the first edition of the World Match Play Championship, which was won by Arnold Palmer at Wentworth Club.
The prestigious event remained at the Surrey venue – where it produced some great champions including Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els – until 2007, when it moved to Finca Cortesin Golf Club, in Spain, for three editions.
After last year’s sojourn to eastern Europe, the London Golf Club – a European Tour Destination and the host of the European Open in 2008 and 2009 – takes over the hosting of a tournament which this year features nine of the world’s top 50 players.
Starting on Wednesday, the field will be split into four groups of four in the early stages, before the leading two players per group proceed to the knockout phase, which will be played over the weekend.
