WGC Accenture Match Play Championship-Round 2 Picks-Fantasy Golf
The sunset early on the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship for Lee Westwood (pictured here) as well as Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods who were all ousted in the first round. Here’s who I think will join them on the sidelines today and who I’m picking to win at Ritz-Carlton GC. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
Snow in Arizona on Wednesday was surprising, but not nearly as surprising as yesterday’s results. Every year in the Match Play Championship big names go down early, but the #1 and #2 overall seeds don’t usually both crash out in the first round. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are gone and so are tons of people’s brackets in the PGA Tour’s version of bracket challenge.
My bracket took some serious damage too losing my eventual champions pick when Russell Henley took out Charl Schwartzel, half my final four, and three of my elite eight. This is why this is a tournament best picked round-by-round.
Overall yesterday my picks, which you can read in retrospect by clicking here, ended the day at 17-13 with two matches still pending. Those two matches weren’t able to finish before darkness fell, but there were enough finals for me to make my picks for the next round today. Here’s my picks in the round two matches which are scheduled to get underway at 9:20 local time (11:20 ET).
Match 33- Nicolas Colsaerts over Justin Rose
Colsaerts won handily over Bill Haas for his first Accenture Match Play Championship victory. He did win the Volvo World Match Play event last year and looked strong in round one. His driving distance is hard to match, and Rose is just 6-7 all-time in this event. He looked good on Wednesday, but struggled before finishing off K.J. Choi 2 and 1 to move onto the second round. I think the long-hitting Belgian gets the win even though he’s the 10 seed and Rose is the #2.
Sept. 23, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Matt Kuchar tees off the 3rd hole during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
Match 34-Matt Kuchar over Sergio Garcia
Kuchar cruised in his 3 and 2 win over Hiroyuki Fujita shooting -1 and missing an opportunity to end things earlier. He’ll move on in the second round to face Sergio who needed extra hole before putting away Thonhchai Jaidee. Garcia looked done after losing the last hole and almost losing the first extra hole, but made a birdie on hole 20 to move on. Kuchar is one of my picks to make a deep run and looked in better form in round one. It would be another numerical upset since Kuchar is a #6 and Garcia is a #3.
Match 35-Tim Clark over Thorbjorn Olesen
I picked Clark to upset Adam Scott and think he’ll follow up that 2 and 1 victory with a win over Thorbjorn Olesen. Olesen beat Welshman Jamie Donaldson in round one never trailing and only losing three holes all day. Clark will be looking to make the third round for his third straight time at this event.
Match 36-Ian Poulter over Bo Van Pelt
Poulter is known for his match play prowess and is a former champion at this event (2010). Stephen Gallacher of Scotland took him to the 17th hole though before Poulter was able to advance 2 and 1. He’ll take on Bo Van Pelt who won 6 and 5 over John Senden. He was the first winner to get through into round two needing just one hole on Thursday to finish his match, but his win was more a result of the Aussie Senden’s struggles than his strong play. I’ll take Poulter to move on in this won.
January 30, 2013; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Bubba Watson tees off on the sixth hole during The Annexus Pro-Am at TPC Scottsdale. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Match 37-Bubba Watson over Jim Furyk
Bubba reached the semifinals two years ago, and looked solid as he began his run this year with a 2 and 1 victory over Chris Wood. He’ll take on Jim Furyk who ousted Ryan Moore with a four-hole winning streak after play resumed yesterday. Furyk hasn’t had great success at this event in the past and will have trouble matching Bubba’s length. You can’t be sure who will come out firing tomorrow, but I think Watson will defeat Furyk in one of the better matches of the day.
Match 38-Jason Day over Russell Henley
Russell Henley shocked Charl Schwartzel who had been placing well in events all over the world before his first round exit to this PGA Tour rookie. Henley won his first ever PGA start, so how far can he get in his WGC debut? I think Jason Day will end his run in this match who has a pair of top tens in his first three tourneys on tour and a solid 4-2 record in this event. Day looks like he could be in for a long run this week, and since I had him in the first round upset I’ll take him again in this one. Day started out on fire getting a 6-up lead in the first ten shooting a -5 on the day without a bogey in his 13 holes played before wrapping things up 6 and 5.
Match 39-Martin Kaymer over Rafael Cabrera-Bello
Kaymer reached the finals two years ago where he lost to Luke Donald. He struggled a bit at times on Friday, but in the end he was able to win 2 and 1 over George Coetzee. His opponent in the next round needed even longer to knock off Lee Westwood as he took out the #2 seed in 19 holes. Cabrera-Bello made some clutch putts to get his first Accenture win and could be a tough out for Kaymer. Ultimately, I think the German will beat the Spaniard in this international match, but Kaymer may need all the holes on the course and possibly even extra to get the win.
Match 40-Hunter Mahan over Richard Sterne
Despite a 1-2 record coming into play yesterday, Sterne got one of the quieter upsets of the day as he took care of Jason Dufner in round one. Sterne is in good form and will be a second tough international matchup for Hunter Mahan who dispatched Matteo Manassero in round 1 with a tidy 5 and 4. Mahan didn’t need to play great since Manassero struggled and will need to step up his game if he wants to successfully defend his title. Mahan defeated Stern 4 and 3 in the first round of 2008, but both players are at very different stages of their careers from then and Sterne will be a good test for Mahan.
Keep reading for picks and analysis for matches 41-48
July 22, 2012; St. Annes, ENGLAND; Fredrik Jacobson tees off on the 3rd hole during the final round of the 2012 British Open Championship at Royal Lytham
Match 41-Robert Garrigus over Louis Oosthuizen
I wasn’t sure that Oosthuizen deserved his #1 seeding, but he wasn’t one of the two top seeds who went down. Oosty got a good match from Richie Ramsay but ultimately dispatched him 2 and 1. He’ll have another tough matchup in round 2, and I think Garrigus has the chance to pull the upset. I wrote that I thought the Robert Garrigus-Branden Grace winner would have a good shot in the second round and I’ll stick with that pick by going with Garrigus in this one. Garrigus hits much longer than the diminutive but formidable South African, and if he opens like he did yesterday he’ll be hard to catch. Garrigus got birdies on five of his first eight holes and cruised to a 4 and 3 win. This should be one of the better matches of the day.
Match 42- Fredrik Jacobson over Marcus Fraser
Jacobson came in playing well and used that momentum to help him defeat the higher-seeded Ernie Els despite having to overcome an early deficit. He’ll take on Aussie Marcus Fraser in round 2 who played at +2 but was still able to defeat Keegan Bradley 1 up. Fraser made some clutch shots, but will definitely need to clean up his card if he wants a chance at beating the Swede who is coming off a pair of top tens and a win in his first Accenture Match Play match yesterday.
Match 43-Luke Donald over Scott Piercy
Donald survived an upset attempt by German Marcel Siem with a 1 up win knocking in six birdies including important putts on the final two greens. Scott Piercy had an easier time of dispatching Paul Lawrie as he secured wins on the first two holes and cruising to a 4 and 3 win without ever trailing. Donald won this event two years ago before getting upset as the top-seed last year. He has the experience and looks in form to go on another extended run.
Match 44-Nick Watney over Steve Stricker
Jan 27, 2013; La Jolla, CA, USA; Nick Watney plays a shot from a greenside bunker on the 11th hole during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
In this All-American matchup, Stricker and Watney face off after both won their match 5 and four yesterday. Stricker took holes 1-3 and cruised to a 5 and 4 win over Henrik Stenson. Stricker has had past success at this event, but not very recently as his win here came back in 2001. Watney has had more recent success reaching the third round or further in all three of his appearances at this event. This will be a really good match, but I’ll take the “young gun” Watney over the veteran Stricker. Stricker hasn’t played competitively since Kapalua while Watney has played four events on tour this year already with his best a t4 at the Farmers.
Match 45- Rickie Fowler/Carl Pettersson winner over Shane Lowry
Lowry won a shocker over #1 overall seed Rory McIlroy yesterday and will face the winner of the Fowler/Pettersson match which Pettersson leads by one going into the final hole. Lowry needed some pretty spectacular shots including several great hole-outs from off the green to beat Rory. If Pettersson is able to finish up Fowler or if Rickie comes back to win, I think they’ll be able to beat the Irishman and move on to the third round. Lowry needed all the breaks to win and I don’t think he’ll ge them for two days in a row.
Match 46-Graeme McDowell over Alexander Noren
McDowell must be happy not to have Y.E. Yang in the field this year since Yang knocked him out of this event that last two years. Instead of Yang, McDowell teed off in round one against Padraig Harrington who he beat in a hard-fought match that didn’t finish until the 18th. McDowell had the match, let it get away, and then won it again with a strong finish. He moves on to face little-known Swedish golfer Alexander Noren. Noren demolished Dustin Johnson 6 and 4 with seven birdies including four in a row starting at #10. Noren had only played the Accenture once before losing in the first round to Geoff Ogilvy. Noren’s best finish of the year-to-date was in the Qatar Masters where he finished t4, but he does have four professional wins with his most recent coming in July of 2011 at the Nordea Masters.
Match 47-Charles Howell III over Molinari/Fernandez-Castano winner
Earlier this season, Charles Howell III tees off on the 18th hole during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Mandatory Credit: Photo By Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The biggest upset in the mind of most golf fans on day one (although not by the numbers) was CH3 getting the win over Tiger. He dominated the match never trailing and playing solid golf all day long. At the end of the day, Tiger said he felt like he played well, but Howell played that much better with a bogey-free, two-birdie round that was good enough to get the best of Woods. He’ll face the winner of the match between Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Francesco Molinari, which was postponed due to darkness with the match all square through 15 holes. Howell played well enough that I think he’ll get the win regardless of who he faces in round 2.
Match 48-Webb Simpson over Peter Hanson
Hanson and Simpson both won matches they were favored to win in the first round. Hanson is struggling with a bad back and may not have been able to play at all on Wednesday. Simpson started hot and never trailed while losing only a hole on his way to a 5 and 4 win over David Lynn. Simpson looked dominant in round one, and with Tiger out of the way could easily reach the elite eight. In this bracket (Gary Player bracket) the #1, #2, and #3 seeds all went down leaving Simpson as the #4 and Hanson as the #5 as the highest seeds left. Hunter Mahan and Martin Kaymer lurk on the other side of the bracket both with past success in this event.