Pictured: Accenture Match Play Championship 2012 Champion
Hunter Mahan

With the first event of the PGA TOUR season in the books – albeit a bit of a delayed conclusion – the countdown to the 2013 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is underway.  Dustin Johnson won the weather-shortened Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the island of Maui to vault 11 places in the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 12. Including the Sony Open in Hawaii (PGA TOUR) and Volvo Golf Champions (European Tour), players have a few weeks remaining to secure their position among the top 64 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and punch their ticket to the Accenture Match Play Championship, which returns to The Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona, February 18-24.

The 2013 Accenture Match Play Championship will feature the top 64 players in the OWGR as of Monday, February 11. The 2013 bracket and tee times will be unveiled on Sunday, February 17, once the OWGR is updated following the conclusion of the Northern Trust Open on the PGA TOUR.

If the field for the Accenture Match Play Championship were finalized today, Rory McIlroy (No. 1), Luke Donald (No. 2), Tiger Woods (No. 3) and Justin Rose (No. 4) would headline the four brackets. If McIlroy maintains his position, he would become the seventh different No. 1 overall seed in the 15-year history of the Accenture Match Play Championship (McIlroy was No. 2 in 2012).

Hunter Mahan, who won his second World Golf Championships title at last year’s Accenture Match Play Championship, is currently ranked No. 26. He was No. 21 entering the field in 2012.

The highest-ranked players currently in the top 64 of the OWGR who were not in last year’s field are Carl Pettersson (No. 30), Branden Grace (No. 34) and Robert Garrigus (No. 38).

The Accenture Match Play Championship will once again feature “Follow the Leaders,” a program that gives fans an opportunity to fall in behind the Championship Match and follow the players down each fairway until the 2013 champion is decided. “Follow the Leaders” will give fans the unique chance to experience the crowd, walk the fairways and view the greens from a player’s perspective. All Sunday ticket holders will be invited to “Follow the Leaders” at the Accenture Match Play Championship, the only official match-play event on the PGA TOUR schedule.

The Accenture Match Play Championship, which is the first in a series of four World Golf Championships events in 2013, has been played in the Tucson area since 2007 and at The Golf Club at Dove Mountain since 2009. Fans interested in purchasing tickets or for more information can visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com or call 520.571.0400.