Day: March 22, 2021

Power Rankings: WGC-Dell Technologies Match PlayPower Rankings: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

March 22, 2021March 22, 2021| 19:00

One is an annual tournament in which the objective is to get a ball into a hole to survive and advance. The other is the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. College basketball doesn't have a monopoly on compelling competition in March. The best golfers in the world have descended on Austin Country Club for their own version of madness. The top 16 of this Power Rankings are who I've identified as the most likely to emerge from the three-day Group Stage launched on the only Wednesday start on the PGA TOUR. With Nos. 1-4 determined logically based on my winners of the championship and consolation matches, Nos. 5-8 are a subjective rank of the quarterfinalists. The golfers in positions 9-16 are my Group Stage survivors who are eliminated in the first round of the Knockout Stage. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field | Play the Bracket Challenge | Print out your bracket POWER RANKINGS: WGC-DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY POWER RANKINGS CONTINUED 17. Rory McIlroy 18. Ryan Palmer 19. Tony Finau 20. Louis Oosthuizen 21. Patrick Cantlay 22. Brendon Todd 23. Joaquin Niemann (first-timer) 24. Max Homa (first-timer) 25. Matt Fitzpatrick 26. Lee Westwood 27. Hideki Matsuyama 28. Tyrrell Hatton 29. Jason Day 30. Ian Poulter 31. Webb Simpson 32. Russell Henley 33. Viktor Hovland (first-timer) 34. Kevin Kisner 35. Lanto Griffin (first-timer) 36. Carlos Ortiz (first-timer) 37. Shane Lowry 38. Tommy Fleetwood 39. Corey Conners (first-timer) 40. Collin Morikawa (first-timer) 41. Scottie Scheffler (first-timer) 42. Erik van Rooyen (first-timer) 43. Kevin Streelman 44. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (first-timer) 45. Matt Wallace 46. Harris English 47. Marc Leishman 48. Adam Long (first-timer) 49. Kevin Na 50. Bubba Watson 51. Matt Kuchar 52. Mackenzie Hughes (first-timer) 53. Jason Kokrak (first-timer) 54. Victor Perez (first-timer) 55. Talor Gooch (first-timer) 56. Dylan Frittelli 57. J.T. Poston (first-timer) 58. Sebastián Muñoz (first-timer) 59. Matthew Wolff (first-timer) 60. Bernd Wiesberger 61. Robert MacIntyre (first-timer) 62. Si Woo Kim 63. Andy Sullivan 64. Antoine Rozner (first-timer) Just as devotees of college buckets rush to complete their brackets every year, arguably more than anything else in professional golf, the Match Play is the best way for fans to connect emotionally and still have success relative to others as seeds are merely fact more often than friction. In the first four spins of the Match Play at Austin CC, only 23 of a possible 64 top seeds in every pod survived the Group Stage format. Sixteen advanced from the grouping ranked 17-32 upon entry, 14 moved on from the golfers seeded 33-48, and 11 from the bottom 16 played on. Perhaps the best example of the competitive balance occurred in 2018 when Dustin Johnson went 0-3-0 as the defending champion and top seed of the tournament. You can play the Bracket Challenge for bragging rights and for a fantastic prize package. It's free to play. Consider the AUTOPICK feature and select from overall seed or odds. You also can copy my bracket as yours. If you select any, you can customize as usual from there. Since it's been two years from the last edition of the Match Play, there are 22 first-time participants in the field. Only the four-man pods headlined by Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Thomas don't include at least one debutant. Anytime that match play is the format, a unique Power Rankings could be constructed for every round. Matchups and momentum are the primary components that establish expectations, so a full-tournament Power Rankings must be consumed with a grain of salt. What doesn't change is the course, naturally. Austin CC is a par 71 with three par 5s. It tips at just 7,108 yards. The only relevant change is that the bunkers have new sand (as a result of a project to update drainage). TifEagle bermuda greens are overseeded and dialed to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. The only cut of rough framing overseeded bermuda fairways and other areas of the shortest grass is two inches, and it is not overseeded. The weather will be worse before it gets better. A delay due to inclement conditions on Wednesday cannot be ruled out. Showers will linger into Thursday morning before dry air takes over and hangs throughout the weekend. And of course, given its location, wind will be a through line for most of the week. Course knowledge and applied experience in it should have value as a result. After posing for pictures with the Walter Hager Cup, the champion will receive 550 FedExCup points and PGA TOUR membership through at least 2023-24. As usual, if a non-member prevails, his equivalent of FedExCup points collected in either of the WGCs completed this season will not contribute to his membership total if he accepts his card. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings (Match Play) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Corales); Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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Willie Mack shares Round 1 lead at APGA Tour event at World Golf VillageWillie Mack shares Round 1 lead at APGA Tour event at World Golf Village

March 22, 2021March 22, 2021| 19:00

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Willie Mack, fresh off of two starts on the PGA TOUR, and ranked collegiate golfer Mahindra Lutchman from Florida A&M University, shot 4 under-par 68s to take a share of the first round lead in the APGA Tour at World Golf Village tournament Monday at the renowned King & Bear layout. Mack is the Flint, Michigan, native who played in both the Farmers Insurance Open and The Genesis Invitational as a sponsor exemption in recent weeks after a decade as a top player on the APGA Tour and other pro golf series. Lutchman is a senior at Florida A&M in nearby Tallahassee who is the No. 3-ranked player in the APGA Collegiate Golf Ranking compiled by PGA TOUR University. They are two shots clear of second place finisher Daniel Augustus of Bermuda, and three shots ahead of a group that includes Landon Lyons of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a two-time winner on the APGA Tour this year. The field of 49 players is competing for $25,000 in prize money with the tournament final round tomorrow on the 7,279-yard, par 72 golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Mack, who sank a 30-foot putt for birdie on No. 12, was happy with the way he handled the blustery conditions. "When the wind is blowing, you need your short game and that was working for me today," he said after carding five birdies but closing with bogey on the par-5 18th hole. Did the PGA TOUR experience help me today? Definitely." Mack was 1 under after 14 holes in the Farmers Insurance Open first round before eventually missing the cut there and at The Genesis Invitational. Lutchman, who is joined in the field by teammate and APGA Collegiate Ranking No. 1 Mulbe Dillard, bogeyed the first hole but vaulted into contention with all pars and five birdies, including on 17 and 18. Dillard shot a three-over 75. If Lutchman and Dillard can retain their rankings through the spring college golf season, they will be provided with exemptions into the APGA Tour summer events along with expenses and entry into the Pre-Qualifying Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament. The APGA Tour at World Golf Village is the fourth tournament of the landmark 2021 season, featuring a record 13 events and $350,000 in prize money, almost double from the 2020 season for the tour, whose mission is to bring greater diversity to the sport of golf. The tournament is being conducted under social-distancing and health/safety guidelines in conjunction with regional authorities.

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