COURSE: The Golf Club at Dove Mountain, 7,791 yards, par 72.
Built into lush, hillside terrain just northwest of Tucson, the Jack
Nicklaus design already had been awarded the World Golf
Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship before it opened in
2008. With wide fairways and the occasional forced carry over a desert
wash, the course's primary challenge lies in its fast, undulating
putting surfaces. The greens actually had more movement in their
original state, but were softened after the 2009 event when players
judged the surfaces too slow.
FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points.
FIELD WATCH: Reigning FedExCup titleholder Henrik Stenson and
defending champ Matt Kuchar head the field as three of the projected No.
1 seeds elect to bypass Dove Mountain. World No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2
Adam Scott and No. 4 Phil Mickelson will sit out. ... Those absences
opened up slots in the 64-man bracket for Scott Piercy, South Africa's
Richard Sterne and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, winner of the Asian
Tour's Order of Merit. ... Steve Stricker, a question mark as brother
Scott awaited a liver transplant, remains listed in the lineup. Scott
Stricker went into surgery Friday after a donor was found.
LAST YEAR: Kuchar jumped out early on Hunter Mahan -- the first
to put Mahan behind in more than two years -- and held off a late
challenge for a 2 & 1 victory and his first World Golf Championships
crown. Kuchar won the fourth hole with a par, then benefited from Mahan
miscues to lead 4 up at the turn. Mahan, though, cut the lead in half
by winning Nos. 10 and 11 and nearly made it three in a row before
Kuchar drained a 15-foot birdie at the par-3 12th. It remained tight
until Mahan needed four shots to reach the green at No. 17.
STORYLINES: The No. 1 seeds get a shuffle with the missing trio
up top, as what's typically a volatile event anyway figures to get even
more wide open. U.S. Open champ Justin Rose, former world No. 1 Rory
McIlroy and Zach Johnson stand next in line for top seeds, though that
could change if there's movement in the world rankings. The brackets
will be set Sunday night. ... Kuchar, likely a No. 2 seed, seeks to join
Woods (2003-04) as the WGC Match Play's only back-to-back winners. He
now sports a 15-3 record in the event, the highest winning percentage
(83.3) of anyone with at least 10 matches played. ... Mahan is 13-2 over
his past three visits to Dove Mountain.
SHORT CHIPS: Patrick Reed, who won the Wyndham Championship and
Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation in the past
six months, and France's Victor Dubuisson are set to make their WGC
debuts. Seventeen others will tee it up in their first WGC Match Play.
... Each of the past two years has featured 15 first-round upsets.
That's the most in any year since there 18 took place during the debut
edition in 1999. ... Mickelson is absent for the fourth time in the past
five years, a week off that usually coincides with his children's
spring break. He's reached the quarterfinals just once in 11
appearances. ... Sang-Moon Bae takes a week off for the first time since
the calendar turned. He had teed it up at each of 2014's first seven
stops.
Last Week's Winner NoleinAtl! Congrats!
Updated Standings
1. DFS - 2121
2. 2952 - 1777
3. NMT - 1766
4. Ocala - 1672
5. Bobcat - 1412
6. Sea - 1409
7. Ed - 1355
8. Bill - 1350
9. NiA - 1267
10.67810 - 1241
11. Lizard - 982
12. g2f - 732
13. DL - 694
Good Luck!
This post was edited on 2/24 3:58 PM by DFSNOLE
Bracket
