Through the cactus
Matt Kuchar bested Hunter Mahan 2&1 in a well-fought final duel at Dove Mountain in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Fighting strong winds and chilly temperatures in Arizona — of all places — Kuchar took advantage of early bogeys made by his competitor Mahan, who had not previously trailed at any point during his prior five matches.
But just like that, Kuchar birdied No. 8 to go 4-up heading into the back nine.
Finchem: Let’s create a clusterf*ck
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem interrupted the final match of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to announce that the Tour is officially protesting the proposed rule to ban anchored putters. Earlier in the week, the Player Advisory Council and Policy Board convened to discuss the issue and the majority were against the rule change, and those who were initially for the ban were swayed to alter their position.
Now this is a big deal — the Tour openly defying golf’s governing bodies, which will most likely result in a chaotic mess, as I wrote earlier this weekend.
Well, that was interesting. We were having a great #WUPHangout until we got trolled, which was an experience — yep, popped by troll cherry — and kind of funny. Except I was clearly super confused. We’ve figured out what happened, and as always, there was a silver lining!
Woods will face Charles Howell III in the first round of matches
Sorry this is a bit rushed — I have to catch the last shuttle to the media parking lot, but I wanted to get the brackets/pairings out. I tweeted (crappy-quality) pictures of them and there’s no easy copy and paste format that I’ve seen yet, so I did the best I could below. The tee times and pairings are legible and I did my best with taking screen shots of the brackets. I also included a link so you can download the PDF file for clearer viewing.
There’s plenty to discuss and quite a few fun match-ups. We’ll discuss later. For now, here you go and let’s hear your early predictions.
It’s just about that time again! — golf’s answer to or closest version of March Madness: the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship takes place in Tucson, Arizona, next week. Wednesday — with the 32 first round matches — is one of the most compelling days of the season.
This year’s field has been finalized, as the deadline to enter was Friday at 5pm ET. Since the seeding and brackets are determined by the player’s Official World Ranking, they will be revealed on Sunday evening after the conclusion of the Northern Trust Open (when the latest OWGR standings are determined based on finishes at Riviera this week).
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