I recently set up a match play tournament and called it “2024 North Pole Classic.” The top 16 All-Time Greats, as ranked by an online publication, were selected to participate. The rankings are shown below.
The golfers were divided into four regions, all northern locations:
Here are the results:
Tiger beat McIlroy 5 and 3 in the finals at The Elf Region.
Trevino beat Mickelson 3 and 1 in the finals at The Snowman Region.
Palmer beat Nelson 1 Up in the finals at The Reindeer Region.
Watson beat Hogan 3 and 2 in the finals at The Candy Cane Region.
The semi-finals were played at The Four Christmases Region using the Hamptons course (Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, NY). Woods beat Palmer 2 Up and Trevino beat Watson 4 and 2.
Tiger and Trevino squared off at Santa’s Championship played at Wicker Basket (Merion in Ardmore, PA).
Here is how the final round played out:
APBA’s All-Time Greats cards were used for all but Rory McIlroy (2023). My son played the matches with me, and we really enjoyed the competition and the 6 chosen courses.
The completed bracket is shown below.
In a few months, we’ll play our second annual “APBA Madness” match play tournament using the top 16 current world ranked players from the 2024 card set (awaiting the release!). Last year, Wyndham Clark beat Viktor Hovland 1 Up in a thrilling final match at Birthplace (St. Andrews).