Mark McCormack, Chief Executive of IMG and Chairman of the Championship Committee of the World Match Play Championship announced today that Cisco Systems, will become the Title Sponsor of the 1998 event to be staged over the West Course, at the Wentworth Club, October 15-18.
Mark McCormack also announced that Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, the World Number one and four, will be joining the Defending and US PGA Champion Vijay Singh and World No.2 Mark O’Meara, the US Masters and Open Champion in what could be one of the best fields in the 35 year history of the championship.
The remaining eight players in the elite 12-man line-up for the Cisco World Match Play Championship will be announced in the next few weeks.
Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader for networking for the Internet. One of America’s greatest corporate success stories, Cisco’s market capitalisation makes it the third largest company on the Nasdaq stock exchange and among the top 40 in the world.
“We are delighted to be the new title sponsor of this great event, especially with such a star-studded field in prospect,” said James Richardson, European President of Cisco Systems. “We’re sure that the worldwide interest in the 1998 Cisco World Match Play Championship will provide an excellent platform for us to promote our name and our business.
“We are also pleased to announce that for the first time in 1998 the event will have its own dedicated website which will be on-line from today at www.ciscoWMPC.com. We have some exciting features planned for the tournament and will be revealing more details shortly.”
The 1998 Cisco World Match Play Championship will commence on Thursday October 15 with the four first round matches being decided over 36 holes. The winners will go through to meet the four seeded players in the second round on Friday October 16. The 36 hole semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday and Sunday October 17 and 18 with the eventual winner receiving a first prize of £170,000.
All four rounds will be televised by BBC-TV.
