5 Things to Know about the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologues Match Play

It's grueling.  It's volatile.  It's the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club and there will be chaos.  Inside the match play vortex playing an opponent's personality is just as important as playing the opponent himself.  And if match play history has taught us only one thing, it's that virtually anything can happen. 

 

Every hole has a definitive outcome, win, lose, or draw.  The excitement is as compelling as it is unpredictable.  Two players standing toe to toe in a test of wills, needing only to defeat the man who stands before him. 

Some players will dig under the skin of their opponents.  Others will try to grind down their adversaries with consistent play.  A few more will just be flat out ruthless.  Here are five things you need to know as 64 of the world's best players return to Austin for the annual dogfight that is WGC Match Play. 

Number 5 
Match Play Format 
Players in this 64-man field are seeded according to their position on the OWGR, and then placed into four pools of 16 players. (Pool A: 1-16; Pool B 17-32; Pool C: 33-48; and Pool D: 49-64).  The top 16 ranked players headline one of 16 groups with a random draw to fill out the other three spots. 

 

Each group plays round-robin matches Wednesday through Friday, with the winners advancing to single elimination brackets on the weekend.  The round of 16 and quarterfinals are then played on Saturday, and the semi-finals and finals are played on Sunday. 

Number 4 
Inside the Field 
On Monday night the ping pong balls did their dance and spit out some compelling pool play groups (player seeds are in parenthesis). Defending champion Bubba Watson (15) will tangle with Jordan Spieth (28) on Friday in Group 15.  If there's a "group of death" in this tournament it’s Group 4 - simply because it means you’ll have to knock out Rory McIlroy (4).  No one's hotter right now than Rory right now, and he'll face Tiger Woods in the Saturday "Round of 16" if both players can win their respective groups.  

 

The last two Masters champions square off in Group 16 with Patrick Reed (16) playing Sergio Garcia (26) on Friday.  In Group 12, four major champions form a blockbuster group with Jason Day (12), Phil Mickelson (20), Henrik Stenson (37), and Jim Furyk (52) all capable of being called the group favorite.  And in Group 14 Toni Finau (14) and Kevin Kisner (48) will have to contend with match play ninja Ian Poulter (30). Here’s a full look at the entire bracket: https://fantasybracket.pgatour.com/#/picks/mine.

Number 3 
A Perfect Match Play Track 
Austin Country Club is hosting for the fourth consecutive year, and risk-reward shots throughout this Pete Dye designed, 7,108 yard, par-71 layout make for great match play drama.  All of the par-5s are reachable in two, but also feature dangers that can put a player on an early plane home.  The 535-yard, 12th hole has a river running down the final 150 yards on the left side, up to and beyond the green.  Players who take on No.12 and hit their second shots wide of the Iron Bridge will likely find a watery grave. 

 

No. 13 is the shortest par-4 on the course at only 317 yards and will tempt players to reach in one.  Holding the green with driver is almost impossible however, and with water in front of the green and all along the left side, circling in from the right is a formidable challenge.  The par-3s range from 145 yards to 198 yards, and all have safe shots to the middle of the greens.  With dye-abolical pins tucked in front of water, bunkers, and ravines however, fortune will favor the bold

Number 2 
Filling Out Your Bracket 
Higher ranked players have a better chance of reaching the round of 16 by allowing them to exploit their talent advantage over three matches instead of one.  It's still match play however, which means players you never heard of will win, and others coming in hot will lose.  Anything can happen, and the most difficult place to pick winners is in the first round. 

 

 

Theoretically, the scrappy grinder who gets up and down from everywhere can win without prodigious length. Five of the last six winners however, have been mashers off the tee, and seven of the last 11 weren't American.  How a player's psyche holds up in this format is also important.  Win, lose, or draw, players are under Sunday pressure on every hole. 

Number 1 
Tiger's First Start in Austin 
Woods has won a record 18 World Golf Championships in nine different locations, but will make his first ever start in Austin, and returns to this event for the first time since 2013.  Two wins shy of Sam Snead/s all-time Tour record of 82, Woods is the only three-time winner of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (2003, 2004, 2008). 

 

Woods said he's looking forward to the fact that he gets to focus on just one guy, and since the very beginning of his career he's excelled at match play where the is its own match.  But Tiger is still settling in to the putting changes he made at The PLAYERS, and the round-robin format with no 36-hole final makes it a new kind of match play format for Woods.