Previewing the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship
Broken into four brackets, it is set up the exact same way as the NCAA Basketball Tournament with each bracket being broken down into 1-16 seeds. The tournament features eight of the top local golfers spread out throughout the star studded field. Below you will find a breakdown of seeding, opening round matchups, and previous results.
Rory Mcllroy (Palm Beach Gardens) - #1 in the World Golf Rankings, Mcllroy is the overall number one seed in the tournament. He opens up against the 16 seeded Shane Lowry, who is also from Ireland, in the Bobby Jones bracket. Rory looks to avenge his finals loss last year to Hunter Mahan by winning his first ever match play event this year.
Tiger Woods (Jupiter Island) - #2 in the World Golf Rankings, Woods is the one seed in the Gary Player Bracket. He opens up on Wednesday against fellow American Charles Howell III. Tiger looks to continue his resurgence by winning the match play event for the first time since 2008. He has not faced Howell III in this type of format since 1996 when they were both amateurs.
Luke Donald (Palm Beach Gardens) – The Palm Beach Gardens resident is the top seed in the Sam Snead bracket. He will open against Marcel Siem and will look to bounce back from his opening round loss last year to Ernie Els as the top overall seed. He last won the event in 2011.
Dustin Johnson (Loxahatchee River) – Dustin Johnson, four seed in the Bobby Jones bracket, opens the five day tournament Wednesday against Alexander Noren of Sweden. Since joining the tour Dustin Johnson is 2-4 at this event and like Mcllroy is looking for his first match play victory.
Rickie Fowler (Loxahatchee Groves) – Fowler drew the eight seed in the Bobby Jones bracket and will open up against Carl Peterson. A win in the first round would most likely set up a second round matchup with Mcllroy, setting up a matchup between two of the young rising stars on tour. Rickie Fowler reached the third round in 2011 but lost to David Toms in the opening round last year.
Keegan Bradley (Loxahatchee River) - Keegan Bradley is the four seed in the Hogan bracket and will face Marcus Fraser in the opening contest. Bradley made his match play debut last year and was eliminated in the second round.
Ernie Els (Jupiter Bears Club) - Ernie Els, the five seed in the Ben Hogan bracket, will square off against the 12th seed Fredrik Jacobson (Hobe Sound) on the opening day. Els hasn’t had much success over the years. Since 2002 he is 3-7 with his best finish being a quarterfinal elimination in 2009. Jacobson is looking to get past the second round for the first time this week.
The tournament begins on Wednesday and is five days long, unlike the traditional Thursday start tournaments. The weekend will consist of the quarterfinals on Saturday and the “final four” and championship matches will take place on Sunday.
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