Where should the tour take the match-play tournament next? There are many worthy candidates, but we’ve narrowed it down to 15 venues that lend themselves to the format and deserve a regular tour stop. Sure, some of these are ambitious, but an exclusive course rarely seen on TV would reinvigorate an event that has battled an identity crisis in recent years.

Ohoopee Match Club

Dom Furore

We’re not sure how tour players would react to the unconventional nature of this built-for-match-play venue. But we’d love to see it. Three holes are listed on the scorecard, perhaps whimsically, as par 4.5s instead of par 5s, and members and their guests can play different 18-hole routings across this 22-hole design. Of course, the club is super private, and we’re not sure they’d be game to host a tour event … but hey, Congaree Golf Club hosts a tour event, and they’re just as private.

Bandon Dunes

USGA

Though the beloved six-course resort along the rugged Oregon coast has hosted numerous USGA championships, we concede it would be a bit of a logistical challenge to host a top tour event. That said, if we approach a match-play tournament at Bandon as a made-for-TV spectacle rather than one with thousands of fans lining the fairways, the intrigue becomes clear. The format and course combinations to be used are endless. Mix it up. Perhaps three rounds of stroke-play qualifying on Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails. Heck, we’ve got a tie for the last match-play spots? Head over to the Preserve, a wild par-3 test typically reserved for sunset matches among the common folk.
We’re torn on which course takes the match play honours, but the drivable 16th hugging the coast at Bandon Dunes might tip the scale in the original layout’s favour. The PGA Tour Match Play isn’t supposed to be like any other week, and sending it out to Bandon and getting creative with the format would reenergize the tournament and showcase arguably the best golf resort in the country.

Inverness Club

Andy Johnson

An old-school Donald Ross design that can tip out at 7,700 yards, Inverness provides a compelling modern test on a historic layout that was restored by Andrew Green ahead of the 2019 US Junior Amateur. Studying Ross’ original drawings and early photography, Green repositioned some putting surfaces, reworked bunkers and added three new holes which replaced ones designed by George and Tom Fazio in the 1970s. The result is a design that better reflects Ross’ vision and makes creative use of the unique topography, with humps and hollows creating plenty of interesting shots. The course has hosted four US Opens (the last in 1979) and most recently held the 2021 Solheim Cup, which proved the layout’s match-play merits and saw impressive fan turnout north of 100,000 people.

Trinity Forest GC

Courtesy Trinity Forest

One of golf’s great modern courses with a ton of width, options and strategic architecture can be found at Coore and Crenshaw’s Trinity Forest. It had a brief stint of hosting the AT&T Byron Nelson, but extremely hot weather in Dallas in May and a lack of sufficient infrastructure doomed the event. Perhaps a better time of year, and an event requiring a smaller footprint is the right combination to bring Trinity Forest back to the PGA Tour.

Medinah No. 3

Stephen Szurlej

A highly anticipated renovation by Geoff Ogilvy and his design partners Michael Cocking and Ashley Mead is expected to return the venerable Chicago design to being one of our nation’s great championship tests. The work will include three entirely new holes and the reinstitution of more angles and options with fewer trees to better challenge decision-making, which would once again make it a great match-play layout, as it was for the 2012 Ryder Cup. The former major venue is slated to host the 2026 Presidents Cup, so it’s already under the PGA Tour umbrella.

Whistling Straits

Getty Images

Pete Dye’s bold, in-your-face design philosophy lends itself to the risks and rewards of match play, especially at Whistling Straits, as shown with the entertaining — if uncompetitive — 2021 Ryder Cup. Remember that insane Jordan Spieth hacking flop shot from 12-feet below the green at the par-3 17th? It’s these recoveries that the Straits course — with its dramatic fall-offs and rugged bunkering — allows for, especially when players take on a little more trouble than they ordinarily would in stroke play.

Pinehurst No. 2

Dom Furore

The Sandhills of North Carolina is one of the most popular golf regions in the country and is deserving of a regular tour stop. Sure, Pinehurst’s famed No. 2 is set to host five US Opens over the next quarter-century — including in 2024 — but we’re greedy and want to see the world’s best navigate the diabolical tabletop greens on a regular basis. A strong match-play course presents plenty of risk-reward opportunities, and while No. 2 is pretty straightforward off the tee, pins tucked toward the edges of greens will require precise approach play to avoid testy chips.
We’d love to see an LPGA match-play event contested the same week on the Gil Hanse revamped No. 4 course. With fans being able to move from one course to the other, it would be a great opportunity to showcase both tours and arguably the two best Sandhills courses. Remember way back in 2014, No. 2 successfully hosted the US Open and US Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks, so they’ll have a head start on logistics.

Eugene CC

John Giustina

Oregon Duck Aaron Wise won the 2016 NCAA individual title at his home course, before Longhorn Scottie Scheffler beat him in the finals of the team championship, so we’re betting those guys won’t take issue with this idea. Oregon won that week, in what was a wild finish with the raucous home crowd, and overall, the course was praised for providing a fair and challenging test. A 2021 renovation made the course more thought-provoking through the shifting of tees, remodelling of bunkers, the expansion of greens that bring more hole locations into play and a renewed emphasis on using the unique ground contours and swales as more strategically influential factors. The towering Douglas fir trees still frame each hole and influence much of a golfer’s strategy from tee to green.

PGA National Resort: Champion

PGA National Resort

Speaking of lost events on the schedule, the Honda Classic was likely contested at PGA National for a final time this year. If another stroke-play event doesn’t return to the Champion course, we’d love to see a return to match play at PGA National, site of the 1983 Ryder Cup. The layout would make for compelling matches in modern times — with the cliche but challenging Bear Trap providing some tough pars while also offering birdie holes at the start and middle of the routing. It’s worth noting the resort has a new Match course, too, which might not work strategically but could make for some fun playoff solutions.

Scottsdale National

Joann Dost

Former Fazio associates Tim Jackson and David Kahn devised a fun routing with three par 5s, three par 4s and three par 3s on each nine — a perfect set-up for match play. A ton of width and variety offers options off the tee, but precision is required into these undulating green complexes at the very private club owned by PXG founder Bob Parsons. To really spice things up: The tour could add a few holes (maybe for playoff purposes) on the notourious Bad Little Nine.

The Lido

The Lido

One of the most highly anticipated course openings of the modern era, The Lido will have course aficionados clamouring to play the recreation of the world-renowned Long Island course built by CB Macdonald. And what a thrill it would be to watch the world’s best tackle this strategic test. Tom Doak recreated every hump and bump from the legendary links by studying old imagery and capturing it in 3D thanks to golf historian Peter Flory. Bringing a tour event here would shine the light on everything that makes course design such a fascinating pursuit and to Sand Valley, a destination helping to put Wisconsin at the top of any enthusiast’s bucket list.

Hamilton Farm GC (Highlands)

Dana Fry

With the longtime FedEx Cup Playoff event leaving the NYC-metro area, we’d like to see a regular tour stop return to this golf-hungry market. Hamilton Farm, about 50 miles west of Manhattan, might be unknown to some, but the Dana Fry- and Michael Hurdzan-designed Highlands course hosted the LPGA Tour’s match-play event from 2010-12. A 2022 renovation removed hundreds of trees to better show off the hilly 730-acre property, which would make a great test for the world’s best.

Shadow Creek

Shadow Creek

Shadow Creek has hosted a few big-time match-play events recently — hosting the first edition of The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for that massive $9 million pay day. The LPGA Tour also visits the jaw-dropping Tom Fazio design for its only match-play event. It’s a course that settles big-money wagers on a daily basis for the high-rollers of Vegas, with a great risk-reward par-5 16th, the picturesque par-3 17th and another par-5 finisher — so it’d be a proper host of a PGA Tour event, too, like it did in 2021 for the CJ Cup.

We’ve given our realistic hopes for where the tour could send its match-play event, now indulge us in a little wishful thinking.

Cypress Point

Cypress Point

Is the iconic Alister MacKenzie coastal California layout long enough to host a tour event? Probably not. The course doesn’t sniff 7,000 yards, but in match play, does it really matter how deep the pros are taking it? (For the record, the current match-play host, Austin Country Club, plays only 7,100 yards at its longest and surrenders birdies by the dozen.) And it’s not like Cypress Point is without challenge. Here’s how our architecture emeritus, Ron Whitten, defends the course to naysayers who argue distance gains have rendered it defenceless.
“Certainly one way to play Cypress is the full-bore, take-dead-aim, grip-it-and-rip-it, bomb-and-gouge approach. But it’s also a course where finesse still matters, where course management is still rewarded. Yes, long bombers can go low at Cypress Point these days, but so can short-hitting, thoughtful players, who much like sailors in a storm tack their way around bunkers, trees, dunes and ocean coves. And when the winds come up, as they often do at Cypress, it’s the latter approach that’s likely to be more successful.”
A match-play event is our best (and only) chance to see the top players compete on one of our nation’s greatest courses, and though the exclusive private club might object to such exposure, it would help give the event the unique allure it needs to justify its place on the tour schedule. Wind blowing, sun setting, match on the line heading to the 233-yard par-3 16th, perhaps the most famous hole in golf? Decent TV.

National Golf Links of America

National Golf Links of America

Another improbable, though not unrealistic proposal would be to send the PGA Tour Match Play to eastern Long Island and one of the nation’s most historic layouts. CB Macdonald set out to build a course that would not just take inspiration from the great courses of the UK and Europe but rival them. The result is a group of template holes — Road Hole, Eden, Redan and Sahara among them — that prove comparable, if not superior to their Old World originals. Though the course, tipping out just over 6,900 yards, is not long enough by tour standards, it did hold up in hosting the 2013 Walker Cup. Throw in the coastal breeze on this exposed links, and we’re confident it would provide a strong match-play test

The post 15 courses we’d love to see host a future match-play event appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Shane Ryan
In a match play format, it’s incumbent upon TV crews and on-course interviewers to anticipate both when and especially where a given match will end. If you’re sitting in a cart at the 18th green and a match ends 5 and 3 on the 15th hole, you can forget about getting an immediate interview with the winner.

So when Billy Horschel came to the par-3 17th, 1-down against Tommy Fleetwood in their Saturday afternoon quarterfinal, it was no surprise that NBC’s Steve Sands was waiting on the hill that overlooks the green. After all, Fleetwood could clinch the match right there.

To Horschel’s mind, though, the match wasn’t ending on 17, and he turned that optimism into reality with a wedge to eight feet. When Fleetwood missed his long birdie putt, and Horschel converted, the match was all-square heading to 18. Horschel trudged up the hill, where he saw Sands waiting and couldn’t resist a small jab.

“What the f–k are you doing on this hole?” he asked.

Billy Horschel plays his shot on the 18th hole in his match against Tommy Fleetwood. Darren Carroll

A halved 18th later, Horschel and Fleetwood moved on to sudden death, and though Fleetwood did his best to recover from a penalty after a nightmarish drive out of bounds on the first extra hole, Horschel had a simple two-putt for par to win … which he converted, though not as simply as he’d like.

It’s Horschel’s first trip to the final four at this event, and he had to earn every bit of that ticket against Fleetwood, who held a lead for most of the afternoon. The situation looked dire after Horschel missed a golden chance to win the 13th when Fleetwood’s tee shot hit the water, and only a converted 30-foot birdie putt on 14 kept him from falling 2-down with four to play. Fleetwood clung to 1-up margin, and it became a case of holding on, and holding on, until Horschel made birdie at the par-3 17th to get all-square against the 2018 Ryder Cup star who leaves Austin having reinforced his match play bona fides.

Horschel will meet Victor Perez in Sunday morning’s semifinal after Perez defeated his friend Sergio Garcia with surprising ease, 4 and 3, in a match that lacked a certain something in the aesthetic qualities.

“We were both pretty gassed, and it showed,” Perez said afterwards. “I don’t think it was the prettiest golf I think it was about hitting as many greens as possible, giving myself opportunities and really not giving any holes.”

Victor Perez lines up a putt on the sixth green in his match against Sergio Garcia. Michael Reaves

Perez’s father was a rugby coach in France, and the son was attending the University of New Mexico when another French Victor—Dubuisson—made his legendary run at the final WGC-Match Play in Arizona before losing to Jason Day. Perez thinks he benefited from being a rookie in the Match Play. His ignorance of the course, and his lack of a record against the other golfers he faced, lent him a certain amount of freedom.

“Sometimes ignorance is a good thing in golf,” he said, “not really knowing what’s coming, not knowing the 36-hole day, you come out, you try to play your best.”

Ironically, he also profited from his friendship with Garcia, who has given him advice on all facets of professional life, including match play. Perez spoke of the European philosophy Garcia conveyed of never giving up on a hole, even one you’re bound to lose, because every bit of pressure you can put on your opponent pays dividends.

He put that guidance into practice on the fifth hole, when his approach landed in a rear greenside bunker while Sergio dropped a dart four feet from the pin. Knowing he might be dead barring a hole-out, Perez nonetheless committed to his bunker shot and managed to knock it inside Garcia. The Spaniard made the birdie anyway, but it was the last hole he’d win all match as Perez ground him down methodically over the next nine holes.

On the other side of the bracket, Scottie Scheffler had the Ryder Cup in mind when he took on Ian Poulter in the morning, followed in the quarters by Jon Rahm—the highest seed remaining in a draw full of upsets.

“I’ve watched Ian way too many times on TV just beat the crap out of us in the Ryder Cup,” Scheffler said. “So I just have memories of me and my dad sitting on the couch and watching this guy make putt after putt … it was nice to get one on him, at least for me.”

The native Texan had a classic exchange with Poulter in the morning, following up his opponent’s 41-foot birdie on the 12th hole with a 26-footer of his own, which stymied any nascent momentum and ended the final real challenge of the English Ryder Cup hero. He did it again in the afternoon, this time on the 14th hole. Rahm, 3-down, ignited the fireworks he wanted with a 49-foot bomb, but Scheffler answered yet again, maintaining his big lead and making the math exceedingly difficult for Rahm.

“I was standing there greenside and that was kind of the moment, it was his do or die moment for the round,” Scheffler said after his round. “And I had a feeling he was going to hit a really good shot. It happened to go in, and I knew I had to roll that one in to keep things in check.”

Matt Kuchar fist bumps Jordan Spieth after winning their match during the fourth round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Michael Reaves

At 24, Scheffler is so plainspoken that he almost comes off terse, and it’s easy to miss the analytical gems he tosses off in his short sentences. And though he has New Jersey roots, he comes as every bit the Texan. As such, it’s no surprise that while Perez enjoyed the mild south wind on Saturday, Scheffler is excited for the strong northerly winds forecast for Sunday.

“A gusty north wind around this course is something these guys may not have seen,” he said, “and I think I’ll have the upper hand with a little bit of experience.”

Despite his native knowledge, the man he faces in the semifinals, Matt Kuchar, is anything but short of experience. In fact, with his quarterfinal win against Brian Harman, he moved into second all-time in WGC-Match Play wins, passing Poulter and standing behind only the inevitable figure of Tiger Woods. It’s a welcome result for Kuchar, who has made no secret of his recent struggles as he returns to friendly ground.

“Listen, I had a number of years where I didn’t miss many cuts, and then to have the last six months pack up more Fridays,” he said. “It’s no fun packing up Fridays. I was working hard, doing all the things that I thought I needed to do to get better and not seeing the improvement, and that’s a tough thing when you’re putting in time and not seeing results. But [I] thankfully stayed the course and finally got things clicking again.”

Along with Harman, Kuchar added Jordan Spieth to his list of match play victims earlier in the morning, but he’ll face his sternest challenge yet against Scheffler, who is proving to be a Match Play legend-killer. We’re down to the last four, and come Sunday, the Texas winds will be howling.

The post It will be Match Play rookies against seasoned vets in Austin semifinals appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Survive and advance is the motto of this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship. Kevin Kisner, this year’s winner at Austin Country Club, site of the event once again in 2019, had to fight his way through three rounds of group play on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to become one of the 16 players to advance into the knockout portion of the championship. From there, he’ll need to win four matches over two days to claim the Walter Hagen Cup and the winner’s check of $1.745 million from the purse of $10.25 million.

Suffice it to say, the more you advance, the more you’ll collect in terms of prize money. All the players who were eliminated in group play earn up to $125,000. Here’s how much money will be dolled out for each golfer who advances to the knockout round at Austin Country Club.

Winner: Kevin Kisner, $1,745,000
Runner-up: Matt Kuchar, $1,095,000
Third: Francesco Molinari, $712,000
Fourth: Lucas Bjerregaard, $574,000

Quarterfinals (T-5):
Tiger Woods, $315,000
Sergio Garcia, $315,000
Louis Oosthuizen, $315,000
Kevin Na, $315,000

Round of 16 (T-9):
Henrik Stenson, $167,000
Rory McIlroy, $167,000
Tyrrell Hatton, $167,000
Branden Grace, $167,000
Marc Leishman, $167,000
Haotong Li, $167,000
Paul Casey, $167,000
Justin Rose, $167,000

And here’s how much money the rest of the field will earn for their efforts:

T-17 (2 points)
Jim Furyk, $108,428
Justin Hardin, $108,428
J.B. Holmes, $108,428
Ian Poulter, $108,428
Alex Noren, $108,428
Abraham Ancer, $108,428
Gary Woodland, $108,428

T-24 (1.5 points)
Justin Thomas, $81,312
Patrick Cantlay, $81,312
Brandt Snedeker, $81,312
Xander Schauffele, $81,312
Rafa Cabrera Bello, $81,312
Jon Rahm, $81,312
Patrick Reed, $81,312
Shane Lowry, $81,312
Hideki Matsuyama, $81,312
Tommy Fleetwood, $81,312
Kyle Stanley, $81,312
Tom Lewis, $81,312
Charles Howell III, $81,312
Satoshi Kodaira, $81,312
Jordan Spieth, $81,312
Billy Horschel, $81,312

T-40 (1 point)
Phil Mickelson, $62,500
Keegan Bradley, $62,500
Matt Wallace, $62,500
Aaron Wise, $62,500
Luke List, $62,500
Andrew Putnam, $62,500
Dustin Johnson, $62,500
Byeong Hun An, $62,500
Bryson DeChambeau, $62,500
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, $62,500
Russell Knox, $62,500
Tony Finau, $62,500
Keith Mitchell, $62,500
Thorbjorn Olesen, $62,500
Bubba Watson, $62,500
Emiliano Grillo, $62,500

T-56 (.5 points)
Lee Westwood, $53,000
Chez Reavie, $53,000
Brooks Koepka, $53,000
Webb Simpson, $53,000
Eddie Pepperell, $53,000

T-61 (0 points)
Jason Day, $50,750
Matthew Fitzpatrick, $50,750
Si Woo Kim, $50,750
Cameron Smith, $50,750

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2019 WGC-Dell Match Play Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Kevin Kisner doesn’t hit it very far, but he finds fairways with remarkable regularity, and that’s a trait that always plays well in match play, as it puts relentless pressure on your opponent. Kisner carded just three birdies in winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play final against Matt Kuchar, but hit enough fairways (9 out of 13), to avoid putting himself in a poor position, forcing Kuchar to try and make up ground, which he couldn’t as Kisner won 3 & 2.

In becoming the lowest seed (48th) to win the Match Play since Geoff Ogilvy 15 years ago, Kisner hit 11 fairways in downing Francesco Molinari in the morning semifinals before taking on Kuchar in the afternoon. In that match, Kuchar simply couldn’t get anything going, making two bogeys and drowning his tee shot on the par-3 11th, handing Kisner the hole to take him to 2 up.

Kisner’s driver is Callaway’s Epic Flash Sub Zero—the lower spinning model of the Epic Flash family. The driver utilizes the company’s Flash Face technology, where artificial intelligence was used to create a face whose back is rippled in areas to create more ball speed across a larger portion of the face. Kisner first put the driver in play at the Sony Open in January. Although the club features a movable weight in the rear sole, Kisner keeps it in the neutral position.

Of course, when you hit it as straight as Kisner, why would you want to alter ball flight anyway.

What Kevin Kisner had in the bag at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero (Aldila NV 2KKV 65 TX), 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero, 13.5 degrees
5-wood: Callaway Rogue Sub Zero, 18 degrees
Irons (3-4): Callaway Apex UT; (5-9): Callaway Apex Pro; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM7
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro #7

The post The clubs Kevin Kisner used to win the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play pairings were announced Monday night, and though the reveal lacks the gravitas of college basketball’s selection show, the drama that lies ahead does not disappoint. (Actually, we take that back. While Golf Channel presented a more scaled-down program than in years past, the pairing of GC’s Ryan Burr—a favourite in these parts, although he seemed a little too animated for the proceedings, as if he had just chugged a keg of Red Bull before air time—and PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell—who had the enthusiasm of a man trying to remember if he had picked up his drying cleaning—was an instant classic. If you’re reading this Netflix, give these two an eight-part travel series ASAP.)

Austin Country Club is serving as Match Play host for the fourth straight season. The event revamped its format in 2015, partially leaving single-elimination in favour of 16 “pods” of four-player, round-robin competition. The players come from four categories divided by rank; the top 16 players are considered the “A” group, the next 16 classified as “B” and so forth. The players are grouped randomly by a ping-pong machine. From there, the 16 group winners advance to a single-elimination bracket, contested over four 18-hole rounds on Saturday (Sweet 16 and quarterfinals) and Sunday (semifinals and finals).

Here are the round-robin pods for the 2019 WGC-Match Play:

Group 1: Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Branden Grace, Chez Reavie

Dustin Johnson is the tournament favourite, and not just because of his torrid start to 2019 (two wins, six top-10s). DJ won the Match Play two years ago and reached the quarterfinals the season before. However, his first three days will be no cake walk. Hideki Matsuyama is slowly rounding back into his 2017 form, ranking second in strokes gained/tee-to-green and has three top-10s in last six starts. Branden Grace is having a so-so season and has only one Sweet 16 Match Play appearance, but has shown in the Presidents Cup (including the 2015 matches, flaunting a 5-0 record) that he’s no pushover. And though Chez Reavie is making just his second Match Play start, his driving accuracy (third on tour) and second-shot prowess (24th in approach) don’t offer his opponents much room for error.

• • •

Group 2: Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, Eddie Pepperell, Emiliano Grillo

There’s not much missing on Justin Rose’s curriculum vitae, making his Match Play struggles all the more perplexing. In 11 appearances, Rose has made it out of the Round of 32 just once. It won’t be easy sledging this week, either. Gary Woodland is seventh in strokes gained/tee-to-green and has two runner-ups and six top-10s this season. Given his runner-up finish at this event in 2015, Woodland is as tough a “B” player as you’ll find. Also providing a headache is Eddie Pepperell, who is coming off a T-3 at the Players and is supremely talented with his irons. As for Emiliano Grillo, the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year appears to be a formidable foe, ranking 10th in approach and 31st in sg/off-the-tee, but until he gets right with his short game (191st around-the-green, 210th in sg/putting), he’s a threat only in the abstract.

One thing we can guarantee from this group: Eddie P writing an eloquent-yet-biting essay on the overrated nature of Austin barbecue. Frankly, we’re overdue for another English-American dust-up.

• • •

Warren Little/Getty Images

Group 3: Brooks Koepka, Alex Noren, Haotong Li, Tom Lewis

Are we going to get the three-majors-in-last-six-tries Brooks Koepka, or the “I have no feels because of this unspecified weight loss,” one-top-20-in-six-starts Koepka?

Koepka’s retributive mindset is one conducive to Match Play, with a quarterfinal run in 2016 and Sweet 16 in 2017. And, as evidenced by winners in Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Austin C.C. can be a bit of a bomber’s paradise. Also helping matters for Koepka is a mostly favourable draw. Alex Noren finished third at last year’s Match Play but hasn’t cracked the top 40 in five tour starts this season, while Haotong Li—who went 0-3 at the ‘18 Match Play—has missed two consecutive cuts. Even Tom Lewis, whose Euro Tour breakout at the end of 2018 jumped him from 436th in the OWGR to his current standing in the top 64, is coming in cold. In short, the perfect platform for Koepka to get right before Augusta.

• • •

Group 4: Rory McIlroy, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Justin Harding, Luke List

The Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee called this a brutal draw; we respectfully argue otherwise. Statistically speaking, Rory McIlroy (first in strokes gained, six consecutive top-six finishes and a resounding victory at the Players) is operating on a plane eerily similar to his historic 2014 campaign. And, as a former Match Play champ, it doesn’t appear McIlroy will be particularly tested early on.

Matthew Fitzpatrick is a talent that continues to be labelled a fledgeling star, but that hype has not translated to results—at least on the PGA Tour, where courses tend to be longer than their European counterparts. That includes this event: in all three appearances at Match Play, Fitzpatrick has been eliminated in the round-robin stage. At 33, Justin Harding has enjoyed a mid-career epiphany; ranked outside the top 700 at the start of 2018, the South African has five worldwide wins in the past 15 months, including earlier this month at the Qatar Masters. Conversely, with Harding making his WGC debut, to bank on him making a spirited run this week seems like a stretch. The list is short of players more potent with the big stick than Luke List (third in distance, fifth in sg/off-the-tee), and he just posted a T-10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. However, List, the last man into this year’s Match Play field, has yet to do anything of merit in a major or WGC outing.

Essentially, this is Rory’s to lose.

• • •

Michael Reaves

Group 5: Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Matt Wallace, Lucas Bjerregaard

The impressive starts of McIlroy and Johnson have somewhat cast a shadow on Justin Thomas. All the 2017 PGA champ has done is turn in five top-10s in nine starts this year (to say nothing of raging a war against the USGA). Thomas was a semifinalist in Austin in 2018, and look for his ability to go low (first in tour in birdies, 10th in eagles) to spur another long stay.

In Thomas’ way is Keegan Bradley, who continues to have a career renaissance. Bradley ranks fifth in approach and 22nd in sg/tee-to-green, but he has not advanced to the Sweet 16 in five Match Play appearances. If he hopes to make the weekend, Bradley will need to keep his flighty flat stick (209th in sg/putting) at bay. Rounding out the group are Matt Wallace and Lucas Bjerregaard. Wallace won three times in Europe last season and boasts a runner-up in Dubai and a T-6 at Bay Hill this season, while Bjerregaard quietly posted respectable showings at the Honda Classic (T-12) and Players (T-30) heading into Match Play.

• • •

Group 6: Bryson DeChambeau, Marc Leishman, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Russell Knox

A study in contrasts in Group 6. Bryson DeChambeau is one of the more excitable players in the sport. Over three days, he’ll face: Marc Leishman, the most unflappable, happy-go-lucky player on tour; Kiradech Aphibarnrat, a cat so cool that he belongs in an Elmore Leonard novel; and Russell Knox, who celebrated an albatross at the Valspar with the gusto of parallel parking.

DeChambeau was on a special type of heater from the end of last season to the start of this one, but the flames have started to die. If the Mad Scientist wants to re-ignite that fire in Texas, he’ll have to keep his composure against a stoic lineup.

• • •

David Cannon/Getty Images

Group 7: Francesco Molinari, Webb Simpson, Thorbjorn Olesen, Satoshi Kodaira

Kids, do not play a drinking game centred around broadcast mentions of Francesco Molinari’s Ryder Cup performance. You will die.

Interestingly, Molinari has not advanced to the Sweet 16 in eight Match Play starts. Luckily for the recent Bay Hill winner, he shouldn’t be sweating too much in the round robin. Webb Simpson is 31st in strokes gained and does have a quarterfinals appearance at Match Play, but has struggled in his two previous starts in Austin. Olesen has not advanced to the weekend in three Match Play starts and enters this year having failed to break the top 40 in five of his last six outings. Similarly, Satoshi Kodaira was a quick Match Play exit last year and has been one of the worst players on tour in 2019 (205th in strokes gained). Would be a major upset if Molinari doesn’t reach Saturday.

• • •

Group 8: Jon Rahm, Matt Kuchar, J.B. Holmes, Si Woo Kim

That Jon Rahm, who has eight top-12 finishes in his last nine starts, is No. 8 in the world underlines how fierce and deep the sport’s upper echelon is at the moment. Much will be made about the Spaniard’s new outlook to control his temper and how that battle could be a detriment to his game. Just remember that he gave DJ a hell of a scare in the championship match two years ago.

Not that we’re automatically advancing Rahm to Saturday. His chief obstacle is Matt Kuchar, sneakily one of the best Match Player competitors in golf. In his last eight appearances, Kuchar has made the Sweet 16 six times, highlighted by a win in 2013 and a third-place finish in 2011. Fifth in accuracy and first in greens in regulation percentage, Kuchar appeared primed for another memorable Match Play push. Also don’t sleep on Si Woo Kim, who won his pod last season as a “D” player. J.B. Holmes’ distance could cause fits, but his inconsistency (T-48/MC/T-26/MC/Win/MC/MC) shouldn’t make him long for the week.

• • •

Masterpress

Group 9: Xander Schauffele, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Tyrrell Hatton, Lee Westwood

Call this the assassin pod. These guys never get much publicity, from fans or media … and without fail, they are always lurking on the leader board come the weekend.

Xander Schauffele went a respectable 2-1 in his Match Play debut last year, and with two victories under his belt and ranking fourth in strokes gained in 2019, the X-Man’s game is in a good position to build off that first foray. For those looking for dark horses, keep tabs on Rafa Cabrera Bello. Though he’s yet to win on the PGA Tour, he has 15 top-10s in just 79 career starts. Tyrrell Hatton won his pod last year, although his form is not exactly at its peak with three missed cuts in his last five starts. In a somewhat peculiar note, Lee Westwood, in order to preserve his OWGR standing, played just once in the last six weeks. Making his 18th career appearance at the event, don’t be shocked if rust is an upshot of Westwood’s gambit.

• • •

Group 10: Paul Casey, Cam Smith, Charles Howell III, Abraham Ancer

Hard not to like Paul Casey’s chances. Repeated at the Valspar Championship last weekend, is 12th in sg/tee-to-green and has two runner-ups at this event. The putting, as usual, could be his downfall (183rd in sg/putting), but clearly his hot streak—Casey also finished second at Pebble Beach and T-3 in Mexico—hasn’t been hampered by it.

Conversely, it’s easy to be tempted by Cameron Smith’s lights-out short game (20th around the green, 19th in putting), but he’s simply giving up too much with the driver (187th in sg/off-the-tee) to be a factor for seven straight matches. Though his game isn’t “sexy,” Charles Howell III has made it out of the round robin the last two years, and with eight top-25s—including a win—in 12 starts this season, the vet certainly won’t be an easy out. Abraham Ancer is on the verge of his first tour win, and though he’s a long shot to get it this week, he is as dangerous as a “D” player as you’ll find in the field.

• • •

Sam Greenwood

Group 11: Tommy Fleetwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Kyle Stanley, Ben An

You’ll hear the “Group of Death” cliche ad nauseam towards the following quad (more on this in a moment), and it’s not necessarily wrong. But good gravy, Group 11 is a gauntlet of ball-strikers.

Both Fleetwood and Stanley have reached the quarterfinals of this event, with Shrek making the Sweet 16 (including a runner-up in 2016) four of the past five seasons. The wildcard is An. The 27-year-old ranks 11th in sg/off-the-tee, second in sg/around the green and sixth in tee-to-green. So why does he have just one top-10 in eight starts? Might have something to do with his work on the greens, where he ranks 204th in sg/putting. Though that makes him an unlikely pick to reach Sunday, his other talents will make him a nightmare match-up. Plus he’s got the incentive of being 51st in the World Ranking and needing to play just well enough to move into the top 50 by week’s end to get a late Masters invite.

• • •

Group 12: Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Jim Furyk

Okay, we’ll give it up. When the worst player is Henrik Stenson, a former Match Play champ and a guy you definitely don’t want to play car-car-house against no matter the strokes were given, that’s a pretty damn good group.

Since his win at Pebble, Mickelson has looked lost (T-37/T-39/MC/MC), and despite his reputation at the Ryder and Presidents Cup, match play is not his forte, reaching the quarterfinals just twice in his career. Of course, the man defies conventionality on a daily basis, so don’t be surprised at a weekend run. Also defying expectations: Jim Furyk. The Ryder Cup captain backed up his sterling performance at the Players with a T-18 at the Valspar. A high finish this week will get Furyk into the Masters; never bet against a man with an Augusta National invite on the line.

But the primary focus of this group is Jason Day. The Aussie is a two-time champ at the Match Play, with another third-place finish to boot. Recent strong displays (T-8 at Sawgrass, T-4 at Pebble and T-5 at Torrey Pines) also help his case. Yet Day comes with a big caveat, as worries remain on the health of his back. In one sense, he was able to withstand the rigours of the Players Championship; in that same breath, seven rounds in five days is a big ask.

• • •

Donald Miralle

Group 13: Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Brandt Snedeker, Aaron Wise

Tiger Woods has won the WGC-Match Play three times. He’s also reached Saturday just once since 2004 and is making his first appearance since 2013. Though he doesn’t have the results as he did in the lead-up to last year’s Masters, Woods is playing well this season, ranking sixth in strokes gained and third in GIR percentage. Making it to Sunday may be a bridge too far, but Tiger’s current form is good enough to reach weekend play.

That ambition would be easier if Patrick Cantlay wasn’t involved. The former No. 1 amateur is 11th in strokes gained, has four top-10s in eight starts and went 2-1 in his Match Play debut last season. Brandt Snedeker is also coming in pistols blazing with a T-5 at the Players. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Aaron Wise. In the midst of a sophomore slump, the former NCAA champ from the University of Oregon has missed four of his last six cuts. Not exactly the ideal form for one making their first Match Play start, against one of the two greatest golfers of all-time, no less.

• • •

Group 14: Tony Finau, Ian Poulter, Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell

Kevin Kisner reached the Match Play finals last season. Keith Mitchell has a win and T-6 in two of his last three starts. Ian Poulter might be the most dreaded match play opponent in the sport. So, yeah, congrats on that “A” status, Tony Finau.

• • •

Masterpress

Group 15: Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Kevin Na

We were a group away from Speith-vs-Reed. What could have been.

Spieth has been a mixed bag at the Match Play, reaching the quarterfinals in his debut in 2014 but making it out of the round robin just once in three tries. However, this group does present an opportunity for Spieth to right the ship before the Masters. Bubba Watson is the defending champ, but Watson remarked he doesn’t like playing in this event on Sunday, so who knows which Bubba will show up to Austin. Billy Horschel hasn’t been bad by any means; would also be a stretch to say he’s had a good 2019 (151st tee-to-green, 71st in strokes gained). And the last time Kevin Na finished inside the top 30 of an event was in the fall.

Again, match play is a fickle, fickle beast. Yet, for a man in desperate need of a confidence boost, Spieth received as good a draw as he could hope.

• • •

Group 16: Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Andrew Putnam

Andrew Putnam had a nice beginning to 2019 but enters with missed cuts in three of his last four starts. Ditto Shane Lowry, who hasn’t had a tour top-10 since 2017 (although he did win in Abu Dhabi this winter). Patrick Reed is such a mess that he just changed swing coaches. Not a group firing on all cylinders.

The saving grace is Sergio Garcia. The 2017 Masters champ made news for the wrong reasons this year, but since his public dust-up, Garcia posted a T-6 at the WGC-Mexico, a T-9 at the Honda and a decent showing at the Players (T-22). There aren’t many WGC-Match Play highlights in Garcia’s career (advanced past the Sweet 16 only once) but his pod gives him a chance to do so this week.

The post Match Madness: Breaking down the 2019 WGC-Dell Match Play groups appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Golf’s version of March Madness returns this week with the WGC-Match Play. Unlike its basketball counterpart, however, a defeat won’t necessarily send a competitor packing.

For the first 16 years of its existence, the Match Play mirrored the bracket format of the NCAA Tournament: 64 entrants broken up into quadrants, with each match-up carrying a loser-leaves-town finality. But this layout was restructured in 2015 to round-robin pods. Each player in the group faces the other three in an 18-hole match, with the round-robin winner advancing to the Sweet 16.

From the PGA Tour’s perspective, what facilitated the change was two-fold. That each player now gets a minimum three rounds makes the investment, in the field’s collective eyes, worthwhile. Moreover, a round-robin format increases the odds of marquee names reaching the weekend, thus making the event more marketable to television audiences.

Conversely, critics now maintain that the pod system detracts from true match play spirit, and a handful of players still grumble about the format. “I understand why they’ve done it,” Henrik Stenson, a former Match Play winner, said in 2016. “They want more players to stay longer. Match play is always more intense. A match is like Sunday in contention. Three rounds of that and not advancing takes a lot out of you.”

Should the tour revert to the one-and-done format, or press forward with this hybrid configuration? Two of Golf Digest’s own, digital editor Sam Weinman and staff writer Joel Beall, speak for each side of the debate.

Bring back the chaos

One of the worst things you can say about the golf calendar is that tournament weeks have a tendency to blend together, but the old WGC Match Play was at least a deviation from the norm. On Wednesday of that week, it was 32 matches between the 64 best players in the world, half of whom would shake hands with their opponent and check out of their hotels before they even could make a dent in the mini-bar.

It was chaotic, unpredictable, and utterly impractical. It was also one of the best days of the year.

The argument against the single-elimination format, which the tour abandoned in favour of pool play in 2015, was that the Match Play risked becoming progressively less interesting as the weeks went on. Which is true if you believed the tournament’s fortunes hinged solely on having name brands in contention. But in hedging against upsets that would jettison marquee stars early in the week, the tour also sacrificed the event’s distinguishing feature. It made Wednesday, now just the first of three days of play pool, decidedly less compelling. And it only nominally increased the chances of your favourite player getting to stick around for the weekend.

Match play is a wild beast in which the best player doesn’t always win. That’s true after one round, but it can be just as true after six. At least in the old days, the Match Play was willing to embrace that reality head on.— Sam Weinman

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Stick with the round robin

Golf has no heart for the underdog. Fans enjoy a fiery run from a longshot, but ultimately, they want a household name to triumph.

The tour is a business, and being in business means knowing your audience. The winners since the round robin’s implementation—Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Bubba Watson—indicates the tour’s been successful on this front.

Win-or-go-home is an alluring prospect, yet one that works better as a concept rather than methodology. The old Wednesdays were exciting but also overwhelming; it was tough to keep track of what was going on. Worse, the competition would lose its mojo by Friday. Yes, due to the lack of big names involved; aside from the Masters and maybe the U.S. and British Opens, what golf tournament’s marketability—or any sporting event for that matter—isn’t predicated off star power? The pod system keeps everyone in the proceedings—fans included—for at least two days, and the last few years showed there aren’t as many meaningless Friday matches as feared.

At this level, 18 holes are too arbitrary. That’s why the U.S. Amateur and old PGA Championships, two of the more prestigious match-play tournaments, have or had stroke play and cuts to narrow the fields.

At its core, a tournament should determine who played the best that week. Inherently, match play will always fall short of stroke competition, but the round robin at least improves the aim.— Joel Beal

The post Debate: Should the WGC-Match Play return to a one-and-done format? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Lee Westwood’s played just once in the last six weeks, a T-33 at the WGC-Mexico Championship in late February. And it’s a schedule or strategy, that’s produced dividends.

On Monday, tournament officials announced the field for next week’s WGC-Match Play, a field predicated off the top 64 players in the Official Golf World Ranking. Westwood, who jumped from 119th in the world to 64th after winning the Nedbank at the end of 2018, was able to hold onto the last spot.

The 45-year-old Westwood will be making his 18th appearance at the Match Play event, although the tournament has not treated him kindly. He’s advanced to the Round of 16 just twice, his best showing a fourth-place finish in 2012.

Also qualifying for the event was Jim Furyk. The former U.S. Open champ vaulted 110 spots to No. 57 thanks to his turn-the-clock performance at TPC Sawgrass. Furyk, who failed to qualify in two of the last three seasons, has a runner-up and two fourth-place finishes in Match Play.

Abraham Ancer, Russell Knox and Tom Lewis were other players on the bubble that gained entry while Satoshi Kodaira—who’s missed five of his last seven cuts—fell from No. 61 to No. 65.

Tiger Woods, who had indicated he would wait and see how he felt after the Players Championship, also committed to playing in the event. Though Woods is a three-time Match Play winner, he’s not played in the event since 2013, and not advanced past the Round of 32 since 2008.

Though the qualification period has ended, seedings based on pods (the Match Play’s first three days are a round-robin elimination) will wait until the completion of this week’s events. Should any qualified player drop out (Adam Scott had previously indicated he plans on skipping the WGCs), Kodaira is the first alternate, followed by Luke List.

The WGC-Match Play returns to Austin C.C. for the fourth straight year. Bubba Watson is the defending champ.

The post WGC-Match Play: Tiger Woods commits, Jim Furyk jumps 110 spots to earn invite and Lee Westwood snags last spot despite playing once in last six weeks appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.