Dwyane Wade and many others in the sports world showed their support for the ‘March For Our Lives’ movement on Saturday on social media and the playing field.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and many others in the sports world spoke in support of the anti-gun movement on Saturday.
The Astros have all the weapons at the plate and on the mound to defend their title, and the mentality to avoid complacency.
Here are nine tidbits from Saturday’s matches at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Austin Country Club plays 7,108 yards (par 71). We’ll start with the Sweet 16 and move forward. Perfection Pools It’s safe to say that NOBODY had a perfect bracket at the conclusion of pool play. Of the 16 predicted group winners by gamers, only FIVE hit. Of the 16 seeded pool favorites, based on OWGR, only FIVE advanced. Woof. Brackets Busted: Sweet 16 Of the five seeded winners advancing to the round of 16, exactly two of them made it to the quarterfinal round. The biggest fish to be fried in the morning session was local favorite Sergio Garcia (7). After washing out Xander Schauffele 3 & 1 to complete pool play with a perfect record, he crashed out to Kyle Stanley (45), 3 & 1. I didn’t see anything from Garcia that would chase me away in the coming weeks or months but I did notice the different color tape jobs his wrist each round. … Tyrrell Hatton (12) was six-under-par and lost to Cameron Smith (46) 2 & 1. This is a perfect example of why match play is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Oh, and it’s almost impossible to project because this can happen in any and every match. … Matt Kuchar (16) wasn’t looking ahead to the round of 16 in pool play. If he was, he noticed early that he wouldn’t have to face Dustin Johnson in round 2. It wasn’t any easier with Kevin Kisner (32) as Kuchar’s six birdies weren’t enough to advance. Savage. Brackets Busted: Quarterfinal Edition Interestingly enough, the quarterfinal matches went according to seed, minus Kiradech Aphibarnrat (28) and Bubba Watson (35). The Thai knocked off annual upset specialist Charles Howell III (59) in the morning but ran out of magic against the two-time Masters champ. His perfect 4-0 week came to a crashing end as Watson rattled off four birdies in a row to open the back nine, winning eventually 5 & 3. The Final Four Watson hasn’t lost this week either as he stormed into the final four 4-0-1. Joining him will be the seeded favorite Justin Thomas (2), Alex Noren (13) and Kevin Kisner (32). Watson is the highest seeded player left but even if he wins, he won’t be the biggest underdog to lift the trophy. That honor belongs to Kevin Sutherland who was seeded No. 62 in the 2002 edition. … Kisner, like Watson, also enters the last four with a record of 4-0-1, has drawn Alex Noren, who similar to Thomas, is 5-0-0 on the week. The last three winners of this “new” format, Rory McIlroy (1), Jason Day (2) and Dustin Johnson (1) have all come from Tier 1 (top 16 seeds from the OWGR). Crystal Ball Thomas and Watson will kick off the final four and both are in flying form. Watson, who has notoriously struggled in this format, has changed his mind set to make birdies and the heck with the rest. Since his drought ended with a title at the Genesis Open, Watson won’t be chasing that angle and will be able to focus on just playing. …Thomas limped into the week after wisdom teeth surgery and has proceeded to blow the doors off every opponent he’s faced. He’s trailed for four holes all week but he’ll be the one dealing with the pressure in this match. With a win in the semifinals he knows he would go to No. 1 in the OWGR. Only 21 players before him have had that honor. I’m excited to see how he handles THAT pressure. Watson steals it. … Noren and Kisner make up the other side of the bracket. Noren is looking to join Sutherland, Shane Lowry and Russell Knox as making their first TOUR win a WGC event. He was knocked out in the quarterfinals last year and now has cleared that hurdle. … Kisner reaching the final four is a site for sore eyes in the gaming world. Many jumped on board after his career year in 2017 but it hasn’t gone according to plan in the new season. His only top 10 in eight events so far has been T4 at The RSM Classic in November. He’ll cash for more than that tomorrow regardless. Kisner needed eight birdies to beat Kuchar. He then thrashed Ian Poulter 8 & 6. He’ll need all of that AGAIN to beat Noren. Chalk final. Final Group: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship Brice Garnett, two-time winner on the Web.com Tour from 2017, is looking to go wire-to-wire for his first TOUR win. He sits on 16-under-par 200 and has a two-shot lead over Corey Conners and four shot lead over third place. Conners, who has played on four different circuits over the last four years, has never won on any professional level and will look to break his duck Sunday. The top 10 this week will be eligible for the Houston Open on Thursday next. Moving Day Monday qualifier Tyler McCumber is looking to keep his momentum of the week moving in the right direction. The son of Mark McCumber is just four back after tying Conners and Harris English for the low round of the day (67) in windy conditions. This is his TOUR debut but he’s won three times on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica … While the above are looking for their first victory at this highest level, Harris English is looking to add to his collection. His 67 moved him up 30 spots to T8.Thanks to two late bogeys by Garnett he’ll begin Sunday seven back instead of nine. English has won on paspalum grass before at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. … The last time this course hosted an event it was last May as a Web.com Tour event. Nate Lashley shot 20-under to win and those gamers backing him this week were happy to see him move up 15 places to T23. Moving Day: Wrong Way After qualifying on Monday at Valspar and cashing T8, the big-hitting Trey Mullinax was on the radar this week. He didn’t disappoint through two rounds and entered Saturday T6. After 76 of them on Saturday he dropped 22 spots to T28. … David Lingmerth’s 67 on Friday pushed him into the top 15 but his 75 in Round 3 saw him drop off to T36. Study Hall Kisner’s undressing of Ian Poulter 8 & 6 to reach the semifinals was the biggest margin of victory since Ben Crane beat Rory McIlroy 8 & 7 in the second round in 2011. Read that again slowly. … Watson is the only player remaining that has a WGC victory (2015 HSBC). … English and McCumber had the only two bogey-free rounds at Corales. … Corales played a shot harder and over-par on Saturday as the wind provided a stout defense.
AUSTIN, Texas — Three Americans and one Swede — or if you prefer, three ex-Southeastern Conference players and one from the Big 12. Those are the survivors who have advanced to the final day of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play The Sunday morning semifinals at Austin Country Club begin at 10 a.m. ET with Justin Thomas facing Bubba Watson, followed by Alex Noren vs. Kevin Kisner at 10:15 a.m. The winners will face off in the championship match Sunday afternoon. Noren — a Swede who graduated from Oklahoma State — will try to prevent an All-American final, while an All-Georgia Bulldog final could develop if Kisner and Watson win. Meanwhile, Alabama’s Justin Thomas, currently No. 1 in the world, could also move to world No. 1 if he beats Watson. Here’s a breakdown of each semifinal match: Justin Thomas vs. Bubba Watson Bubba Watson was supposed to go out of the country on vacation tomorrow. Due to the sheer uncertainty of match play, Watson bought plane tickets, never realizing that he would make it to the semifinals for the second time in eight Match Play appearances. “I figured I wasn’t going to make it, so I went ahead and scheduled a vacation,” said Watson, seeded 35th this week. “So I’ve got to call my wife now and tell her that I’m going to be a day late.” Instead of relaxing 40,000 feet up in the air, Watson will go head-to-head with Justin Thomas in a semifinal match that has extra significance for the second-ranked player in the world. Getting past Watson would guarantee Thomas the No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career. In an interesting twist of fate, Sunday’s match against Thomas will be the second time Watson has gone up against a player who needed a win to secure the No. 1 ranking. The last time was back in 2011 when Watson lost to Martin Kaymer in the Match Play semifinals. That win secured Kaymer the No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career. “I guess I’m good at that,” Watson said. “If you want No. 1, just beat me, and you’ll be No. 1.” Watson appears to be up for the challenge based on the way he’s played this week. After making it through the group stage, Watson held off Brian Harman in the Round of 16 before taking down good friend Kiradech Aphibarnrat in 15 holes. Watson went 1 down early in his match against Harman but never trailed against Aphibarnat. Thomas has been on a similar run this week. Before he went 1 down on the second hole against Kyle Stanley in the quarterfinals, Thomas had not trailed all week. Playing the role of front-runner has suited the 24-year-old well, who needed just 13 holes to take down Si Woo Kim before ending Kyle Stanley’s week, 2 and 1. Thomas was on the fence about playing in Austin following the removal of his wisdom teeth, which turned into a sore throat — a doctor told him it was likey strep throat — that saw him lose six pounds. “I had a pretty serious conversation with my dad on Monday if I was going to play,” Thomas said. “I never want to play in a tournament, first off if it’s going to hurt my health. If I was sick or really sick, me trying to play this week wasn’t going to do me any good. But also if I feel like I don’t have a chance to win, it’s also really — to me, I don’t understand the point of playing if I don’t feel like I can.” With the help of antibiotics, Thomas has regained his strength and has the look of someone who won the Honda Classic and finished runner-up in Mexico in his last two starts. On the verge of becoming No. 1, Thomas is relishing that possibility that it could happen tomorrow. “I don’t know what’s going to come with it,” Thomas said of the No. 1 ranking. “But I just hope it happens tomorrow.” Alex Noren vs. Kevin Kisner Alex Noren has played with Kevin Kisner only once since the two turned professional, but there’s a history between the players that dates back to their time at the University of Georgia and Oklahoma State University. Playing at two golf powerhouses around the same time meant Kisner and Noren saw a lot of each other. While Noren couldn’t recall who got the better of those battles on the course, he’ll have the chance to take on Kisner in a match that would move him one step closer to earning his first PGA TOUR victory. He’s looked the part of a player who’s on the verge of finding the winner’s circle this season, with a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and a third-place showing at the Honda Classic. Then there’s the impressive run he’s been on this week that’s seen him go 9-1 in his last 10 matches at the event, dating back to last year. “I’ve always liked match play because I think it’s very — the outcome is quite direct,” Noren said. “Four days, sometimes it can — you can go through holes that maybe mentally you’re a little bit out of it and then you get into it when it’s 72 holes. “In match play, you’ve just got to be really focused all the time and anything can happen. And then you have to play good each round. You can’t just give up a round and then think you’ve got three more. Maybe that’s what I need to do in stroke play, as well, not give a round away. I’ve always liked it. You can be a little bit more aggressive.” Noren will face an in-form Kisner who recently found something with his game. Everything has clicked this week, as Kisner made eight birdies in a win against Matt Kuchar before rolling past Ian Poulter in the quarterfinals, 8 and 6. “A lot of range balls, a lot of time,” Kisner said. “I haven’t been very confident throughout the bag all year. Sometimes you have to get a little worse before you get better. We’re always trying to improve. And I’m not sure if I needed to. “It’s starting to click now. I started seeing some stuff on Tuesday. I played nine holes with Daniel Berger and started seeing good stuff that I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. That was starting to build the confidence there. And throughout the week I’ve gained a lot more confidence.” Confidence could be key in a match between two of the hottest putters in the field. Noren currently leads the field in strokes gained: putting this week while Kisner ranks fourth in the statistical category.
