2004 HSBC World Match Play Championship

The 1966 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the third World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 6 to Saturday 8 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £5,000 out of a total prize fund of £16,000. Gary Player defeated Jack Nicklaus 6 & 4 in the final to win the tournament for the second successive year. The first semi-final was even throughout. With Gary Player dormie two, both he and Arnold Palmer played badly at the 17th and halved the hole in 6 to give Player a 2&1 win. In the second semi-final Jack Nicklaus was 6 up against Bill Casper at lunch. Casper won the 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th in the afternoon to reduce the gap to two holes. A birdie by Casper at the 16th reduced the lead to one hole but Nicklaus hit a one iron to 12 feet at the 17th to secure a 2 & 1 victory.In the final, Nicklaus drove poorly at the 17th and 18th to give Player a four-hole lead at lunch. The match finished at the 13th hole in the afternoon after Nicklaus again got into trouble off the tee. The final is best remembered for an incident between Nicklaus and the referee Tony Duncan. At the 9th hole of the first round, Nicklaus drove his ball into a ditch near an out of bounds. Nicklaus dropped out of the ditch under a penalty of one stroke and then claimed that an advertising sign about 50 yards ahead was in his line of sight and claimed relief. Duncan decided that the sign was not in a direct line between ball and pin and refused to allow a free drop. As they walked to the next tee Nicklaus criticised the decision. Duncan then offered to stand down as referee, an offer which was accepted and so he was replaced by Gerald Micklem. Nicklaus later wrote an open letter to the American magazine Golf World outlining his case. The magazine published the letter and a reply from Duncan.As in previous years, the match play championship was preceded by the Piccadilly Tournament, a 72-hole stroke play competition, which was played on the East Course on 4 and 5 October. The winner was Bernard Hunt who won £750.

The 1972 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the ninth World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £8,500 out of a total prize fund of £25,000. In the final, Tom Weiskopf beat Lee Trevino 4 & 3 to win the championship. Grier Jones was a surprise invitee for the event. Relatively unknown in Europe, he had won two events on the 1972 PGA Tour and runner-up in two others. He met Tony Jacklin in the first round and lost 7 & 6.Peter Oosterhuis beat defending champion Gary Player in the first round. Oosterhuis won four of the first five holes and went 5 up after an eagle at the 12th. Player won three of the remaining holes to go to lunch only two holes down and had levelled the match by the 13th hole of the afternoon round. Oosterhuis holed a 30-foot putt at the 16th and eventually won by one hole.

The 1956 Canada Cup took place 24–26 June on the West Course at the Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. It was the fourth Canada Cup event, which became the World Cup in 1967. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event with 29 teams. The Scandinavian team that had competed in 1954 and 1955 was replaced by teams from Denmark and Sweden, while there were new teams from Chinese Taipei, Portugal and South Korea. Each team consisted of two players from a country. The combined score of each team determined the team results. 18 holes were played on the first two days with 36 holes played on the final day. Because of the time taken to play each round, a cut was introduced after the second day, with only the leading 20 teams competing on the final day. An 18-hole consolation event was held for the remaining 9 teams. There was provision for an individual in one of these 9 teams to complete the 72 holes if they were well-placed after the second day.The American team of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead won by 14 strokes over the South African team of Bobby Locke and Gary Player. The individual competition was won by Hogan, five shots ahead of Roberto De Vicenzo.

Wentworth Club is a privately owned golf club and country club in Virginia Water, Surrey, on the south western fringes of London, not far from Windsor Castle. The club was founded in 1922. Beijing-based Reignwood Group bought the club in September 2014 and implemented a new debenture membership structure, starting at £100,000. The debenture is now estimated at £200,000. Wentworth is home to the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, the professional golf tour. Each year it hosts the Tour's PGA Championship which is played on the club's West Course. Wentworth was the venue of the 1953 Ryder Cup and of the World Match Play Championship from 1964 until 2007.

The 1970 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the seventh World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 October on the West Course at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £5,750 out of a total prize fund of £18,400. In the final, Jack Nicklaus beat Lee Trevino 2 & 1. In the first round, two matches finished at the 36th hole. Tony Jacklin won the last two holes to defeat Gary Player while Lee Trevino beat Billy Casper by holing a 6-foot putt after Casper had missed from 8 feet.Nicklaus was playing in the event for the first time since 1966 when he had a dispute with the referee in the final. After two comfortable wins, he met Lee Trevino in the final. The final was level after 12 holes but Nicklaus won three of the next five holes to go to lunch 3 up. After 27 holes, Nicklaus led by five with both players having birdied the 9th. Trevino then won the 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th to reduce the lead to 1 hole. However Nicklaus eagled the 15th to take a two-hole lead again and, although Trevino birdied the 16th, the match ended at the 17th after Trevino had gone out of bounds off the tee.

The 1971 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the eighth World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £8,500 out of a total prize fund of £25,000. In the final, Gary Player beat Jack Nicklaus 5 & 4 to win the championship for the fourth time. In his first round match, Jack Nicklaus went 4 up over Lu Liang-Huan after six holes but Lu levelled the match by the 12th hole and went ahead at the 16th. Nicklaus won the 18th to be level at lunch. Nicklaus then went 3 up after eight holes in the afternoon and although Lu reduced the deficit to 1 hole, Nicklaus holed a long putt for a birdie at the 16th to take a two-hole lead and won 2 & 1 at the next hole. Neil Coles won six holes in a row against Charles Coody from the 12th to the 17th holes of the first round and went to lunch six holes up. Coles eventually won by a score of 5 & 4.In the final between Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, Nicklaus was 1 up at lunch but Player won the first four holes in the afternoon and, with Nicklaus missing a number of short putts, Player eventually won 5 & 4. It was his fourth win in the eight World Match Play events contested.

The 1965 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the second World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 14 to Saturday 16 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £5,000 out of a total prize fund of £16,000. Gary Player defeated Peter Thomson 3 & 2 in the final to win the tournament. In the first round of his semi-final, Gary Player was 1 up after 10 holes but then lost seven holes in succession to Tony Lema from the 11th to the 17th. He needed a 10-foot putt at the 18th to halve that hole but was 6 down at lunch. He then lost the first hole in the afternoon to go 7 down to Lema. Player birdied the 2nd and 3rd holes and eventually won the 18th to tie the match, winning the match at the 37th hole.In the final, Thomson was 1 up at lunch. Player squared the match at the 2nd hole and then went two up after winning the 7th and 8th. Thomson eagled the 12th to reduce the gap to one hole but Player birdied the 15th and 16th to win 3 & 2.As in 1964, the match play championship was preceded by the Piccadilly Tournament, a 72-hole stroke play competition, which was played on the East Course on 11 and 12 October. The winner was Peter Butler who won £750.

The 1974 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the 11th World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £10,000 out of a total prize fund of £30,000. In the final, Hale Irwin beat defending champion Gary Player 3 & 1. It was Player's first defeat in a final after five previous victories.

The 1964 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the first World Match Play Championship. It was played from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £5,000 out of a total prize fund of £16,000. Arnold Palmer defeated Neil Coles 2&1 in the final to win the tournament. The tournament was sponsored by Carreras Tobacco Company the manufacturer of Piccadilly cigarettes.In the final, Palmer led by two after nine holes but Coles won the 11th, 12th, 13th and the 18th to reach lunch two holes up. Coles was round in 72 to Palmer's 74. In the afternoon Palmer went 2–3–3 from the 5th to the 7th to lead by one, reaching the turn in 32. Palmer won the 15th with a three and eventually won 2&1, having completed the 17 holes in the afternoon in 61 strokes.The match play championship concluded a week of golf at Wentworth which had started with the Piccadilly Tournament, a 72-hole stroke play competition, which was played on the East Course from 5 to 7 October. The winner was Jimmy Martin who took home £750 of the total prize fund of £4,000.

The 1975 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the 12th World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 9 to Saturday 11 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £10,000 out of a total prize fund of £30,000. In the final, defending champion Hale Irwin beat Al Geiberger 4 & 2.

The 1967 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the fourth World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. The champion received £5,000 out of a total prize fund of £16,000. In the final Arnold Palmer defeated Peter Thomson at the 36th hole to win the tournament for the second time. Gary Player, the winner for the previous two years, was taken to the 39th hole by Gay Brewer in the opening round. Brewer was three up at lunch but Player has leveled the match by the 12th hole of the afternoon. Player then holed an eagle putt from 85 feet at the 17th to take the lead. At the last, Brewer holed from 12 feet for a birdie to level the match again. At the third extra hole, Player noticed that the green staff had moved the hole in preparation for the next day. He objected and the referee, Michael Bonallack, agreed to replace the hole in its original position. With no green staff available a penknife was used to cut out the hole. Brewer's second shot had finished in a green-side bunker but he came out 18 feet past the hole and three-putted to give Player the victory.Player was finally beaten by Peter Thomson in the semi-final. Thomson led by three holes at lunch and led until Player halved the match with an eagle three at the 15th. Thomson birdied the 16th to take the lead again and the match finished when Player hooked his tee shot out of bounds at the 17th.In the final, Thomson was three up over Arnold Palmer after six holes but the match was level when the players went to lunch. The match was still all square after 27 holes. Palmer took the lead with a birdie at the 10th and extended his lead to three holes by winning the 12th and 13th holes. Thomson reduced the lead to one by winning the 14th and 15th but Palmer holed from 15 feet to halve the 16th. The 17th was halved but Thomson was unable to get the birdie he needed at the last.As in previous years, the match play championship was preceded by the Piccadilly Tournament, a 72-hole stroke play competition, which was played on the East Course on 10 and 11 October. The winner was Peter Butler who won £750. Because there were no British golfers in the main event, there had been talk of a boycott of this event by some of the British golfers. In the end the PGA issued a statement and the boycott came to nothing.

The 2005 HSBC World Match Play Championship was the 42nd HSBC World Match Play Championship played and the 2nd time played as an official European Tour event. It was played from 15–18 September at the Wentworth Club. The champion received €1,443,830 (£1,000,000 or $2,042,513.20) making it the biggest first prize in golf at the time. Each match was played over 36 holes. Michael Campbell defeated Paul McGinley 2 and 1 in the final to win the tournament for the first time.