Mar 24, 2018
Round of 16 picks for WGC Match Play
After some favourites fell like leaves in autumn in the Group Stage of the World Golf Championship - Dell Technology Match Play, busting his bracket, Bob Weeks is back with his Round of 16 picks.
By Bob Weeks
Talk about taking a beating.
Your humble scribe fared about as well as a right-handed golfer playing with left-handed clubs in my picks for the opening round of the World Golf Championship – Dell Technologies Match Play. But if there’s any consolation, I’m not alone.
Favourites fell like leaves in autumn in the Group Stage with only five of the top seeds moving on to the Round of 16. That’s just slightly more than the number of bottom-ranked seeds who won their groups.
No upset was bigger than defending champion Dustin Johnson losing all three of his matches and never making it to the 18th hole. Kevin Kisner advanced out of that group, avoiding a playoff with Adam Hadwin, when the Canadian tied Bernd Wiesberger, earning just a half point.
I did manage to get Justin Thomas advancing from his group and also predicted the middle seeds Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Patrick Reed moving on from their foursomes too.
And my last two correct picks were Tyrrell Hatton, who squeaked into the next round after a playoff with Brendan Steele, and steady Matt Kuchar, who provided the highlight of Friday with a hole-in-one.
I’m also claiming a half point for a shout-out I gave to Brian Harman (although I had Rory McIlroy moving on from that group of four).
After that, however, it wasn’t just a busted bracket, it was a destroyed one. Shubankar Sharma? Nope. Jason Day? Nope. Gary Woodland, Kevin Na, Brandon Grace? Nope, nope and nope.
Match play is always fun for just this reason. In stroke play, a bad hole can throw you well down the leaderboard in a tournament. But in match play, it’s easy to overcome. In stroke play, you are playing against the field while in match play, it’s more of a battle with your opponent. You don’t necessarily have to play well, just better than the other guy.
And just like the golfers, prognosticators get to recover too. With that, here are my picks for the Round of 16.
Matt Kuchar over Kevin Kisner: Kuchar just never seems to have a bad hole or a bad stretch.
Ian Poulter over Louis Oosthuizen: Poulter continues his reign as one of the best match play golfers in the game.
Tyrrell Hatton over Cameron Smith: I felt that Smith played better than Hatton in the first round, but I think Hatton will find his gear.
Alex Noren over Patrick Reed: Noren is going to be tough for Reed even though the latter will be the fan favourite.
Kiredech Aphibarnrat over Charles Howell III: Aphibarnrat will continue his fine play of late with a win over Chucky Three-Sticks.
Brian Harmon over Bubba Watson: The battle of the lefties will go to the shorter hitter but the steadier player in Harmon.
Sergio Garcia over Kyle Stanley: Garcia doesn’t seem to be suffering from his lack of sleep over new baby Azelea. He’s playing inspired golf.
Justin Thomas over Si Woo Kim: Thomas will be just too much for Kim.