There is bound to be a lot of debate on the new format of the World Golf Championship-Cadillac Match Play, which is being played this week at the TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.

In its truest sense, a match play should be a knockout tournament. If you play badly for a few holes, and lose to someone who might be 100 places below you in the world rankings, you should be out. That is the beauty of the format. It is extremely unpredictable, which should be fun. But, as in most other things in life, we are not very comfortable when things become too unpredictable.

The match play format has suffered in the last few years because of this. Everyone loves an underdog, and it is exciting if the world number 64 manages to knock out the world number one on the first day itself. However, come Saturday and Sunday, and everyone — including the media, fans, sponsors and television — want the top players to be in contention.

The knockout format of the match play meant that there was a very real possibility that the top players were knocked out on the first day, which would deprive those who have tickets for the second and third day, a chance to see some of their favourite stars.

By playing round-robin in the group stage, it ensures that fans, on the golf course and on television, will get to see their favourite stars for at least the first three days. On the flipside, the chances of a lower-ranked player advancing to the Round of 16 is greatly reduced because he would have to win at least two out of the three matches.

However, there are some players who will always do well in match play format. I like the chances of guys like Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson and Brooks Koepka because they tend to make a lot of birdies, which is always a good thing in match play.

On the other hand, there are players like Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk, who do well because they are so steady and rarely make bogies. Then, it also helps if you have the fighting abilities and the never-say-die attitude of Ian Poulter or Patrick Reed.

On a personal front, just following up on what I said last week about my trip to Germany, I am feeling remarkably better and pain free within just a week. I am back in India and I have started practicing. There is a slight pain, but that needs to be managed through physio, exercises and some medication. I hope to be back on the tour the week after at the Spanish Open.

— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour