Match Play Event Is Pushed Back One Day

One day after heavy rains forced the first 36-hole, non-official tournament in the 79-year history of the Nissan Open, another golf event was affected Tuesday.

The $7.5-million Accenture World Match Play Championship, which was supposed to get underway today, is being delayed until Thursday because of the waterlogged La Costa course.

If weather permits, the 32 first-round matches will be played Thursday, with the next two rounds Friday and another two rounds Saturday.

As of now, the 36-hole championship match and 18-hole consolation match are still scheduled for Sunday.

Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s tournament director, said the La Costa layout is saturated and will benefit if the weather clears today and dries the course.

“Give the course a chance to drain a little bit,” Russell said.

In first-round matches, Vijay Singh plays Shingo Katayama, Tiger Woods plays Nick Price, Retief Goosen plays Stephen Leaney and Phil Mickelson plays Loren Roberts.

Russell said La Costa is in worse shape than Riviera Country Club was over the weekend for the Nissan Open.

“Tyler Dennis, one of our rules officials, was at Riviera,” Russell said, “and once he saw this, he said that Riviera looks like a kiddie pool.”