Maybe Patrick Reed does care what people think

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Voting has now been completed for the Round of 16 matches … and thanks to our fans (who broke three ties), we have the eight survivors for the quarterfinals of our Mythical Match Play Championship. With our 10 voters deadlocked at 5-5 for matches involving Xander Schauffele vs. Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa vs. Sungjae Im and No. 2 overall seed Jon Rahm vs. Marc Leishman, we enlisted the help of fans via the Twitter account of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. The results of those tiebreakers, along with all the Round of 16 results, are below. Voting among the 10 experts is now taking place for the quarterfinals. Our Mythical event is the just-for-fun exercise we’re conducting this week in lieu of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which was among the canceled events by the PGA TOUR in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The TOUR conducted a draw to produce a bracket, and now our 10 experts are voting for the winner of each match. We released the Round 1 results on Wednesday (click here), the Round 2 results on Thursday (click here) and the Round 3 results on Friday (click here) that determined the 16 survivors advancing to the single-elimination phase. We’ll crown the Mythical Match Play champion on Sunday. The voting rules are simple: Each expert was asked to pick a match winner, and the golfer with the majority of votes is the match winner. Our 10 expert voters include: GolfBet’s Jason Sobel from The Action Network; GolfTV’s Jamie Kennedy; Tom Alter and Jim McCabe from PGA TOUR Communications; Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton; PGATOUR.COM writers Ben Everill, Sean Martin, Mike McAllister and Cameron Morfit; and a combined vote from the TOUR’s ShotLink team. Here are the experts’ picks for the Round of 16 (each player’s seed is in parentheses). The quarterfinal results are scheduled to be released later on Saturday, so check back then. Rory McIlroy (1) vs. Louis Oosthuizen (19): 9 votes for McIlroy, 1 vote for Oosthuizen. McILROY wins. Why I picked McIlroy: “Oosthuizen is terrific at match play, but he can’t match the No. 1 player in the world. Rory rolls into the quarterfinals.â€� – Tom Alter Patrick Cantlay (8) vs. Webb Simpson (9): 7 votes for Simpson, 3 votes for Cantlay. SIMPSON wins. Why I picked Simpson: “Simpson simply looks like he knows every putt is going in.â€� – Jim McCabe Justin Thomas (4) vs. Ian Poulter (58): 8 votes for Thomas, 2 votes for Poulter. THOMAS wins. Why I picked Thomas: “Even though Poulter is the guy with the long-term reputation for stepping it up in match play events, Thomas is a sneaky 10-3-2 over the last three years of Ryder/Presidents Cup competitions, proving his skills translate well to this format.â€� – Jason Sobel Xander Schauffele (12) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (22): 5 votes for Schauffele, 5 votes for Matsuyama. Fan voting: 61% for Schauffele, 39% for Matsuyama. SCHAUFFELE wins. Why I picked Schauffele: “Xander is a pit-bull who waits for the slightest scrap and attacks. The first missed putt from Hideki would provide Schauffele a lead he would never relinquish.â€� – Ben Everill Jon Rahm (2) vs. Marc Leishman (15): 5 votes for Rahm, 5 votes for Leishman. Fan voting: 75% for Rahm, 25% for Leishman. RAHM wins. Why I picked Rahm: “Leishman is a tough match play guy with two trips to the round of 16 in the last three years, but 2017 runner-up Rahm is so comfy in Austin, he looks destined to win this tournament someday.â€� – Cameron Morfit Patrick Reed (7) vs. Tommy Fleetwood (10): 6 votes for Reed, 4 votes for Fleetwood. REED wins. Why we picked Reed: “Both players are really similar in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green ranking T-38 (Reed) and 34th (Fleetwood). However, Reed has a huge edge on and around the greens, ranking 38thin SG: Around-the-Green & 3rd in SG: Putting to Fleetwood’s 176th SG: Around-the-Green & 96th in SG: Putting. Reed has Fleetwood by over a stroke on and around the greens per round this season on TOUR.â€� – ShotLink team Sungjae Im (23) vs. Collin Morikawa (44): 5 votes for Im, 5 votes for Morikawa. Fan voting: 56% for Im, 44% for Morikawa. IM wins. Why I picked Im: “Quite the battle among two of the PGA TOUR’s biggest and brightest young stars. This one comes down to putting – Im ranks 36th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season while Morikawa ranks 174th.â€� – Mike McAllister Adam Scott (6) vs. Tiger Woods (11): 9 votes for Scott, 1 vote for Woods. SCOTT wins. Why I picked Scott: “Having not played a lot in recent weeks, a fourth straight match for Tiger could catch up with him. Scott’s putting has improved drastically in the last 18 months and that helps him knock off the Masters champ.â€� – Jamie Kennedy QUARTEFFINALS Rory McIlroy (1) vs. Webb Simpson (9) Justin Thomas (4) vs. Xander Schauffele (12) Jon Rahm (2) vs. Patrick Reed (7) Sungjae Im (23) vs. Adam Scott (6)

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Vijay Singh’s last PGA TOUR victory in 2008. His only win at The Honda Classic was in 1999, on a course that he couldn’t remember. And he arrived at PGA National a few days ago wondering if his game is still good enough for him to be competitive with the younger generation. So far, he’s got to like what he’s seeing. And he’ll have a shot Sunday at making history. Singh — who turned 56 on Feb. 22 — has a chance to become the oldest winner ever on the PGA TOUR. His round of 5-under 65 on Saturday put him at 6 under for the week, one shot behind leader Wyndham Clark. They’ll be in the final pairing Sunday. Singh has been a pro longer than the 25-year-old Clark has been alive. “It would be great,” Singh said when asked what a win would mean at his age. “I’ve worked pretty hard. I’m physically quite capable of doing it. Mentally, I’m going to go out there and see how my mind works. If I just don’t let anything interfere, I think I can do it.” There have been seven players to win on the PGA TOUR after their 50th birthday, the oldest Sam Snead at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days in the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open. Singh will be eight days removed from his 56th birthday Sunday. “He’s been one of the game’s best,” said Rickie Fowler, who was alone in fifth at 5 under following his round of 66. “He’s a ball-striker. He’s not as long as he used to be, but on this golf course you don’t necessarily have to be long. It’s about getting the ball in the fairway and hitting your lines and hitting numbers. You don’t necessarily have to go out and do anything special.” Singh, Keith Mitchell (70) and Kyeong-Hoon Lee (68) are all one shot off Clark’s lead. Clark started in sizzling fashion, opening with five birdies in his first seven holes before giving a bit back as the wind started to pick up at PGA National. Forecasters say the breezes will only get stronger from here, and that means Sunday could be wild. There were 28 players within five shots of the lead. Brooks Koepka (70), first-round leader Jhonattan Vegas (69) and Michael Thompson (66) were 4 under, and Sergio Garcia shot 70 for the second straight day to reach 3 under. Clark’s run of 122 consecutive holes without a three-putt ended at the par-3 15th, the start of The Bear Trap. But he made enough good shots to end the day alone on the 54-hole lead. “I felt like I managed where I hit the ball,” Clark said. “I put it in good spots. As long as I keep giving myself chances to make putts, I think I can win.” The first time Singh played The Honda Classic was 1994. Clark, who was three shots clear of the field at one point Saturday, was about 2 months old at the time. When Singh got to PGA National early in the week, the first thing he did was set out for a five-hour practice session — one of the many trademarks of his career. He’s using a longer putter, something he says Bernhard Langer talked him into trying. Even though there’s more than a few gray hairs wisping out from beneath his visor, Singh is still in excellent shape and says there’s no tension or pain in his body. “It’s work, determination, believing in what I believe in,” said Singh, who survived a super-windy Sunday to win the 1999 Honda at Herron Bay by two shots over Payne Stewart. “I just feel like if I play like I did today … when you aim at a target and swing the way you’re supposed to and the ball comes out, that’s the best feeling in the world.” Winning Sunday would be a pretty good feeling as well.

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