The world's best golfers have one more week to secure their position inside the top 64 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and qualify for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. This week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour are the last two events awarding OWGR points prior to Monday's deadline.
The top 64 players in the OWGR as of Monday, February 14, will qualify for the Accenture Match Play Championship, February 21-27 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain.
One player who has moved off the bubble is Mark Wilson, already a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2011 after a playoff victory Monday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He also won earlier this year at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the season's first full-field event. After beginning the season at No. 234 in the OWGR, Wilson's victory in Phoenix moved him to No. 54 and in position to compete in the Accenture Match Play Championship for the first time. He is playing this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Last week's winner at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters on the European Tour, Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, also moved just inside the top 64 in the OWGR. At No. 60 in the current OWGR, Bjorn hopes to make his first appearance at the Accenture Match Play Championship since 2007 (T33). In six career starts at the event, Bjorn's best result was a T9 in 2000. He is competing this week in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
"It's down to crunch time now for players to secure their positions inside the top 64 and earn a spot in the prestigious field here at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain," said Wade Dunagan, Accenture Match Play Championship executive director. "There is a nice mix of veterans and potential first timers currently inside the top 64, which should provide for some intriguing matches here in two weeks. It will no doubt be another exciting week of golf for Southern Arizona."
Both veterans and first-time participants are represented among the players currently on the "bubble" around No. 64 in the OWGR. A pair of teenagers, Italy's Matteo Manassero (No. 57) and South Korea's Sung-yul Noh (No. 63), are among the players looking to qualify for the Accenture Match Play Championship for the first time.
At 17 years and 9 months old, Manassero would become the youngest player to ever qualify for a World Golf Championships event, surpassing Danny Lee (19 years, 1 month) at the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational. At 19 years and 8 months old, Noh would join Manassero as the youngest players to ever compete in the Accenture Match Play Championship, surpassing Rory McIlory (19 years, 9 months) in 2009.
Representing the veterans near the bubble are Bjorn (No. 60), 2007 Accenture Match Play champion Henrik Stenson (No. 62) and two-time major champion Angel Cabrera (No. 66).
