WGC Accenture Match Play Championship First and Second Round Thoughts

As much as I love to compete and win when it comes to brackets, I would prefer to have a great tournament rather than get all of my picks right and it be boring.  This is the case for this year's WGC Match Play bracket.  Through two days and with 16 players remaining, I only have one member of my Final Four remaining and two guys with the potential to make the Elite 8 that I picked (Mark Wilson and Matt Kuchar).  With that said, just like the NCAA Tournament, I can throw my bracket into the furnace and be o.k. with things if the rest of the action is riveting.  Now that I am unlikely to win any bracket pool, I hope the golf matches remaining will be thrilling and capture my attention.

Looking at Round 1 from yesterday, the biggest surprise of the day had to be Ernie Els' 5&4 drubbing of tournament #1 seed and #1 player in the world Luke Donald.  I'll admit Els played steady, but Donald was a disaster and not in good form at all, dunking balls in the water and even shanking a shot.  Kyle Stanley beat K.J. Choi in a pretty good match and proved that he can hang with the big boys.  Also in the Jones bracket, the bracket lost its #2 seed as Adam Scott fell apart late and let the hatless wonder Robert Rock beat him 1 up.  I'll admit Rock hit some good shots, but Scott threw this away and I wasn't too disappointed because I had Scott losing to Wilson in the next round anyways.  Jim Furyk also blew a golden opportunity to beat Dustin Johnson, as he had him on the ropes throughout, allowed things to slip away, and blew it in the playoff hole where he was in much better position than Johnson.  In the Hogan bracket, everything pretty much went according to plan except for Oosthuizen edging Baddeley (much to my chagrin because I had Baddeley going deep) and the big upset may have been Y.E. Yang over Graeme McDowell, but I didn't really see it as an upset because Yang plays well under pressure and has slayed some giants in his day.  In the Player bracket, "The Mechanic" Miguel Angel Jimenez nipped Sergio Garcia in a minor upset, while Sang-moon Bae beat Ian Poulter, a winner at this event previously.  Poulter seemed way off and needs to figure out his game again to be able to compete at the high level he's capable of.  One of the best comebacks of the day was from Jason Day, who was three down with three to play, won the final three holes, and threw a dart in the first playoff hole to beat R.C. Bello.  In the Snead bracket, Matteo Manassero edged #2 seed Webb Simpson for an upset, but most wouldn't call it a big one because Manassero advanced to the third round last year.  In the bottom part of the bracket, Ryo Ishikawa stormed back to beat #3 seed Bill Haas, who was fresh off a win last week in dramatic fashion at Riviera.  Finally, Tiger Woods did not play well, but he earned a 1 up victory over Castano.

In today's Round 2, there were some good matches to be noted.  Brandt Snedeker once again got the best of Kyle Stanley in a tight one, while Matt Kuchar bested Bubba Watson.  Steve Stricker eeked it out against Louis Oosthuizen, while Hunter Mahan continued his strong play in throttling Y.E. Yang.  McIlroy kept it rolling, and The Mechanic beat recently hot Keegan Bradley.  John Senden worked a struggling Jason Day, while Sang-moon Bae edged Masters champ Charl Schwartzel.  In one of the marquee matches of the day, Nick Watney beat Tiger Woods 1 up, as Woods missed a 5 1/2 footer on 18 to force extra holes.  Tiger's putting killed him today, as he missed five putts inside of 10 feet that doomed him.  He hit it decently, but isn't making the putts he used to and it frustrates to see that.  When one part of his game has been spot on, the other part usually fails to live up to his lofty standards.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, here are my predictions of how the matches will go:

Jones Bracket:
#9 Peter Hanson vs #5 Brandt Snedeker-I see Snedeker winning.  Hanson is hot, but I like Sneds in this one.
#10 Mark Wilson vs #3 Dustin Johnson-I have to roll with Wilson here because I have him to make the Final Four.

Hogan Bracket:
#1 Martin Kaymer vs #4 Matt Kuchar-Both players are strong in this event, but I will go with the slight upset and take Kuch.
#2 Steve Stricker vs #6 Hunter Mahan-Mahan is playing really well and momentum is building, so I will take him.

Player Bracket:
#1 Rory McIlroy vs #13 Miguel Angel Jimenez-I am going with an upset special here and saying The Mechanic pulls it out.
#10 John Senden vs #11 Sang-moon Bae-I am going with Senden because he putts very well.

Snead Bracket:
#1 Lee Westwood vs #4 Nick Watney-I think Westwood executes shots and wins.
#10 Martin Laird vs #11 Paul Lawrie-I am going with Lawrie in this one for no particular reason.

Happy watching to everyone tomorrow! Let the fireworks begin!