Caddie Confidential: Dripping with details — and classic tales

AUSTIN, Texas — Welcome to Bracket Monday on the PGA TOUR. The 64 players in this week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technlogoies Match Play will be divided into 16 groups via draw process to be revealed today at 5 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.  Fans can then begin filling out their brackets on PGATOUR.COM until Wednesday when the first tee shot is struck at Austin Country Club to start the Group Stage of the competition. Following three rounds of the Group Stage Wednesday through Friday, the 16 Group winners will advance to the sudden-death stage starting Saturday morning. The Championship Final will be played Sunday morning.  Our Live Blog will provide the results of the draw, as well as the matchups for each round and a quick analysis from our experts. Each player below is listed by his seed, with his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play career record in parentheses. Group 1 1. DUSTIN JOHNSON (14-12) – Making his 11th appearance and his third straight as the top seed. Won the Championship in 2017, beating Jon Rahm 1 up. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 2 2. JUSTIN ROSE (10-11-1) – Returns after two-year absence for 12th start in event. Quarterfinals back in 2007 remains best result. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 3 3. BROOKS KOEPKA (8-4) – Returns after a year off. Quarterfinalist in 2016, final 16 in 2017 before wrist injury kept him out in 2018. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 4 4. RORY MCILROY (24-11-2) – Recently crowned PLAYERS Champion was runner-up in 2012, won in 2015, was a semifinalist in 2016 … but failed to get out of Group Play the last two seasons. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 5 5. JUSTIN THOMAS ( 6-7-0) – After two uninspiring starts, found his groove last year to make it to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion Bubba Watson. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 6 6. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU (0-0) – Making his first Match Play start. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 7 7. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (4-11-0) – The reigning Open Champion has never come out of the Group Stage so will look to his 5-0 Ryder Cup heroics for inspiration. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 8 8. JON RAHM (6-3-1) – Reached the Championship match on debut in 2017, only to be bested by Dustin Johnson. Failed to win a group match last year. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 9 9. XANDER SCHAUFFELE (2-1-0) – Taken out by loss to Sergio Garcia on debut last year after winning first two starts. Has multiple TOUR wins since. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 10 10. PAUL CASEY (25-14-1) – Sunday’s winner of the Valspar Championship lost in the finals in 2009 (to Geoff Ogilvy) and 2010 (to Ian Poulter). Advanced to Sweet 16 in 2017. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 11 11. TOMMY FLEETWOOD (6-5-0) – In three previous starts, he advanced past the Group Stage just once, in 2015 when he lost to fellow Englishman Danny Willett in the Quarterfinals. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 12 12. JASON DAY (22-11-0) – Won the championship in in 2014 (in Arizona) and 2016 when Austin first hosted the Match Play. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 13 13. TIGER WOODS (33-10) – Match Play champion in 2003, 2004 and 2008. Last start in this event was 2013, so he’s never played at Austin CC or in this Group Play format. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 14 14. TONY FINAU (2-1-0) – Won his first two matches last year before losing to Group winner Alex Noren. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 15 15. BUBBA WATSON (20-8-3) – Defending champion was also semi-finalist in 2011. Beat Kevin Kisner 7 and 6 in final last year. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD Group 16 16. PATRICK REED (9-6-1) – Captain America has won his group twice in last four years, only to lose at next hurdle. MATCH SCHEDULE Wednesday: TBD Thursday: TBD Friday: TBD

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Xander Schauffele made a putter change at the Dell Technologies Championship, swapping his Odyssey Works Big-T #5 mallet for the putter manufacturer’s O-Works Red #7CH (34.5 inches). The two-time TOUR winner noticed an immediate improvement in his aiming but felt the ball was coming off the Microhinge insert with too much speed.  Working with Callaway Tour rep Johnny Thompson at the BMW Championship, Schauffele went to a version of the putter with a slight counterbalance in the grip. Thompson removed 10 grams of weight from the head and repositioned it in the butt end of the SuperStroke Pistol GTR 1.0 grip. The weight shift essentially helped Schauffele take out some energy at impact and dial in his speed control. While the change was slight, it proved to be a game-changer for Schauffele, who finished the week second in Strokes Gained: Putting en route to a third-place finish that booked his spot at East Lake Golf Club for The TOUR Championship. Day’s driver shaft: Jason Day became the third player on TOUR (joining Pat Perez and Martin Kaymer) to put Accra’s 70-gram prototype driver shaft in play at Aronimink Golf Club. The Aussie, who opened 2018 with a TPT shaft in his TaylorMade M3 driver at the Farmer Insurance Open, tested the prototype on Tuesday and saw ball speeds of 181 miles per hour with a launch of 13 degrees and 315 yards of carry (345 yards total). While the numbers were close to what he was seeing from the TPT shaft, the difference for Day was in the dispersion department, where he noticed a tighter pattern, which led to the change. According to Accra Tour rep Shawn Mullin, the prototype shaft is designed to perform like steel with a softer tip section and very low torque. With a high launch and low spin, the shaft is geared for players with high swing speeds who need the added stability.  Bradley reps his alma mater: The red paint used on Odyssey’s O-Works Red putter wasn’t created specifically for Keegan Bradley. That being said, the color was close enough to St. John’s University red for Bradley to ask for a custom version. Bradley, who spent his collegiate career playing for the Red Storm, asked Odyssey reps if they could create a one-off Works 1W Armlock with the same red paint scheme.  From address, the putter looks like O-Works Red — until you flip it over and realize the sole has Works graphics, platinum paint and a White Hot insert.  Tiger goes back to trusty Newport 2: Tiger Woods hinted during the Quicken Loans National that his run with a mallet could be short-lived. He was right. Woods switched to an Anser-style TaylorMade TP Black Copper Juno at the Dell Technologies Championship and then shelved it one week later for his longtime Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS blade.  “I know the release point and I know how it swings and my body morphed into a position where it understands where it needs to be to release the putter,” Woods said. “I’ve hit hundreds of millions of putts. I’ve had it since ’99. I’ve hit putts with it. I just — my body just remembers it. When I go away from it — and, you know, when I was using the Nike putter I always bring it out and hit putts with it. Sometimes it works but it just feels very familiar to me.” Woods opened with 62 but struggled to replicate the performance over the next three days. He lost more than three-and-a-half strokes to the field with the putter during the second round before closing with two positive Strokes Gained: Putting rounds.

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three time per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in his edition of the Power Rankings. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. SEGMENT 1 SEGMENT 2

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