Accenture returns to Dove Mountain

Planet Golf — 16 May 2012 by Jim Street

After considerable review, the PGA Tour has decided to stay the course and keep the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain near Tucson.

There had been talks of moving the event to a course closer to downtown Tucson to alleviate some traffic issues.

But the PGA Tour, on behalf of the International Federation of PGA Tours, confirmed on Wednesday morning that the Accenture would return to the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout in the Sonoran Desert.

“We look forward to returning to Tucson next year for what promises to be another exciting Accenture Match Play Championship,” said Roxanne Taylor, the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Accenture, in a press release. “The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain has been a great venue for world-class competition, and Tucson has been a terrific host city, particularly with the tremendous support from the Conquistadores.”

The Accenture Match Play Championship, which is the first in a series of four World Golf Championships, has been played in the Tucson area since 2007 and at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain since 2009.

The 2013 event will be held February 18-24 and again feature the top 64 players in the world from the Official World Golf Ranking. This year’s Accenture Match Play Championship was won by American Hunter Mahan over Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy.

“We had an incredibly successful 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship, with great crowds, beautiful weather and tremendous support from the Tucson community,” said David Pillsbury, PGA Tour Executive Vice President of Championship Management. “We’re excited to continue the long-standing tradition of world-class golf in this marketplace at least through 2014, and we think The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain is an outstanding venue to host the Accenture Match Play Championship again next year.”

During a recent interview with GolfersWest.com, Jeff McCormick, the director of golf, called last year’s tourney, “The best we’ve ever had.”

Daily and weekly tickets for the 2013 Accenture Match Play Championship are now available. Fans interested in purchasing tickets can visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com or call the Tucson Conquistadores office at 520-571-0400.

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About Author

Jim Street

Jim’s 40-year sportswriting career started with the San Jose Mercury-News in 1970 and ended on a full-time basis on October 31, 2010 following a 10-year stint with MLB.com. He grew up in Dorris, Calif., several long drives from the nearest golf course. His first tee shot was a week before being inducted into the Army in 1968. Upon his return from Vietnam, where he was a war correspondent for the 9th Infantry Division, Jim took up golf semi-seriously while working for the Mercury-News and covered numerous tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 1982, when Tom Watson made the shot of his life on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Jim also covered several Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournaments, the women’s U.S. Open, and other golfing events in the San Francisco area. He has a 17-handicap, made his first and only hole-in-one on March 12, 2018 at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle and witnessed the first round Ken Griffey Jr. ever played – at Arizona State during Spring Training in 1990. Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Kapalua Plantation Course, Pinehurst No. 2, Spyglass Hill, Winged Foot, Torrey Pines, Medinah, Chambers Bay, North Berwick, Gleneagles and Castle Stuart in Scotland, and numerous gems in Hawaii are among the courses he has had the pleasure of playing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway is not a strong part of Jim’s game, but he is known (in his own mind) as the best putter not on tour. Most of Jim’s writing career was spent covering Major League Baseball, a tenure that started with the Oakland Athletics, who won 101 games in 1971, and ended with the Seattle Mariners, who lost 101 games in 2010. Symmetry is a wonderful thing. He currently lives in Seattle and has an 8-year-old grandson, Andrew, who is the club's current junior champion at his home course (Oakmont CC) in Glendale, Calif.