Rory McIlroy Wins the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play

San Francisco was treated to an excellent and world class display of golf this week at the World Golf Championships Cadillac Match Play at TPC Harding Park. With the new match play format (implemented just this year) we saw more matches being played than any year before, as well as more rounds of golf than any other golf tournament, which brought out a different side of some golfers. But after 7 matches, 3 of witch concluded today, World Number One Rory McIlroy emerged as the winner, defeating Gary Woodland with a 4&2 score. This is Rory's first PGA Tour win this year and his last PGA Tour win since the PGA Championship last year. Ironically, Rory has won 2 of the last 4 WGC events, his last being the 2014 WGC Cadillac Championship, which was also his last non-major PGA Tour win.

Rory remained undefeated all week, but his journey to the final round was not easy. He defeated the likes of Japan superstar Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey (a match which concluded early this morning due to darkness yesterday), and Jim Furyk (who finished 4th). In his match against Furyk, Rory was 1 down going into the 16th hole. It wasn't looking good for him, but Rory went on to win the next three holes and beat Furyk, going birdie, birdie, eagle. He drove the green on the 18th and made a huge (albeit unexpected for both him and Furyk) eagle putt to win.

In the final match, Rory took an early lead against Gary Woodland, going 4 up through 7. Both players were playing well, although Gary Woodland battled against errant drives most of the round. But Woodland made a charge on the back nine, taking two points away from Rory on the 11th and 12th. But things turned for the worst for Woodland on the par 3 13th hole, where he was left with a short four foot putt to win the hole after Rory had duffed a chip. Woodland missed and they halved the hole, but from there on, Woodland wasn't the same. He would concede the 16th hole and watch after a poor bunker shot.

The 3rd place match was played between Jim Furyk (surprise, surprise) and young Englishmen and European Tour player Danny Willett. This was a back and fourth match, with Furyk leading going into the back nine, but Willett dominating much of the back nine. By no means did Furyk lose the match, rather, Willett won it. Despite being for 3rd place, Willett probably comes out as the biggest winner this week, as his 3rd place finish was enough to earn him temporary PGA Tour status for the rest of the season.

TPC Harding Park was not forgiving this week, especially the deep (US Open style) rough. On the back nine, many of the par 4s required a tee shot in the fairway, as a second shot from the rough would often result in balls not having enough spin to stay on the green when they landed. We saw this a lot in Woodland's final round, where he was penalized a few times for missing the fairway.

Finally, our lone pick who made it to the knockout rounds, Rickie Fowler, lost in his first match to Louis Oosthuizen, who dominated most of the match.

There you have it, the 2nd WGC event of the season. As I promised, it was filled with excitement and world class golf. Next week is the biggest event of the PGA Tour, the "5th major", the Players Championship from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Stay tuned for our picks for it.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Rory McIlroy Wins the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play

Jimenez vs Bradley: A Closer Look at What Happened Today

They say match play brings out the competitive side in a golfer and all the emotions that follow suit. Pride, the desire to win and beat a single person is often a double-edged sword. Sometimes we get a glimpse at the negative sides of these emotions at events like the Ryder Cup, perhaps the most famous being the Paul Azinger and Seve Ballesteros dispute. It's safe to say though that disputes and confrontations are something not seen too often in the world of golf.

Today's round at the WGC Cadillac Match Play saw a dispute between Miguel Angel Jimenez and Keegen Bradley, both very likable, calm, and some of the nicer players on tour. This was the third match for both players, but both had lost their previous two matches, meaning that neither of them had a chance of reaching the round of 16.

It started on the 13th hole, where Jimemez apparently questioned a cart path drop Bradley had made. Whether the questioning was out of curiosity, disapproval, etc. isn't not clear at the moment. Ok, no big deal, Miguel is 1 UP at this point and wants to make sure things are being done right. He does want to win after all.

Things turned for the worse on the 18th. After a wayward tee shot, Bradley was forced to make another drop. Jimenez had again made his way over to where Bradley was and discussions again ensued, with Jimenez voicing his opinion about the drop. Things became heated when Bradley's caddie (Steve AKA Pepsi) interrupted Jimenez, who was having a conversation with the rules official on scene. Pepsi said to Jimenez "do you want to delay us some more?" prompting Jimenez to tell Pepsi to "shut up". An angered Bradley then stepped in, getting up close and personal with Jimenez, telling him not to tell his caddie to shut up and to go back to his ball.

It's tough in this situation to point the finger at who is to blame or at fault for this. Many people are saying different things, some say Jimenez was out of line for being there and saying shut up, some say Pepsi was rude for interrupting, some say the rules official should have done something about it. Here's my opinion, for what it's worth.

This post should be titled "Jimenez vs Pepsi" because that's really where the heated dispute is, and started. You can't blame Jimenez for walking over to Bradley's ball and taking interest. It does, after all, affect him as it could affect Keegen's score on that hole and thus affect the match. Any match player golfer would have probably done the same thing, but probably not as insistent as Jimenez was. You can't blame Bradley for defending his caddie. Players and caddies are really close and most of the times are close friends. He's trying to defend his caddie after all.

So who's to blame?

Both Jimenez and Pepsi. Pepsi probably should not have interrupted Miguel and the rules official. That seems to me like the catalyst in the heated dispute. Likewise Miguel probably should not have told Pepsi to shut up and probably should not have been so accusatory in his opinion about the drop. Now whether Jimenez meant to tell Pepsi to shut up or meant to be so accusatory is a different story. There is after all a slight language barrier with Jimenez.

After the match (which Jimenez ended up winning), the two had apparently calmed down at least in their interviews, citing that they were in the heat of the moment and that what's done is done. But people inside the locker room afterwards are saying that the two and Pepsi had more words for each other and apparently nothing was resolved.

Some people (cough Johnny Miller, cough some Golf Channel experts) are blaming the rules official for not stepping in and "breaking up the confrontation". What I found interesting about this was what Chief Referee Mark Russell has to say about this. Russell defended the rules official saying that issue was between the players and that the rules official acted justly. He added that if things got any worse, the rules official would certainly have stepped in. It's also worth pointing out that although the rules official is a referee of sorts, he/she can't be compared to referees of other sports, where confrontations occur more often. These things just don't happen that often in golf so you wouldn't expect a rules official to step in like we see in other sports.

This is a very interesting story that's sure to develop some more in the next few days. I just hope that this isn't the latest golf rivalry to emerge. Both are great and respected players and hopefully they can resolve these issues.

In other news, the round of 16 has been decided. You can find out who's playing who by clicking here. The only one of our picks to make it to the round of 16 was Rickie Fowler, who will be facing Louis Oosthuizen tomorrow.

What's your opinion on the Jimenez/Bradley issue? Leave us a comment and let us know,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Jimenez vs Bradley: What's your opinion on it?

WGC Cadillac Match Play Picks

This week's PGA Tour event is the World Golf Championships Cadillac Match Play (formerly the WGC-Accenture Match Play), being played this year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California. Being a World Golf Championship (WGC) event, it is exclusive to the top 64 players in the World Golf Rankings. It also boasts one of the largest purses on Tour at $9.25 million.

As I mentioned in my last post, this is one of my favourite events on tour, for two reasons. Firstly, like I said it is a WGC event, so we get to see a unique field filled with the world's best players, which by it's nature bring world-class golf. Secondly, it's a match play event. Briefly, match play is a format of golf in which two players face each other at a time, rather than the entire field. Each hole is allocated one point and the player with the lowest score (compared to their fellow player) on each hole wins the hole and receives/takes away one point from their competitor, depending on if they are winning or losing overall. Whoever finishes ahead at the end wins. In a tournament format, match play differs from traditional stroke play in that the event is structured in a round-robin-like style, with each player having to win to advance to the next stage. The matches are far more exciting as well, since greater risks can be taken shot-wise as your score on one hole doesn't affect your overall score.

This is the first year that TPC Harding Park is hosting the WGC Match Play, but it has hosted a WGC event in the past (Cadillac Championship in 2005). It has also hosted a Presidents Cup (2009) and several Charles Schwab Cup Championships for the Champions Tour. Today, it measures at just under 7200 yards at a par 72.

My picks this week focused around one main factor; experience in match play, naturally. Since the match play format isn't seen too often on Tour, I chose picks who had contested in past match play events (and had done well) such as the Ryder Cup, etc. Here they are:

1) Graeme McDowell
2) Martin Kaymer
3) Rickie Fowler

GMac is a natural choice when it comes to match play. He's made it to the quarter finals in the past two years of this event and played excellently in past Ryder Cups, having holed the winning putt for Europe in 2010 and contributing points in 2014. He also won the Volvo World Match Play Championship in 2013 on the European Tour. Similarly Kaymer has also had excellent finishes in this event, his best being a 2nd place in 2011 (where he was the best player in the world at the time and rocked a snood that had everyone golf fashion expert talking). He also holed the winning putt for Europe in the 2012 Ryder Cup AKA the Miracle of Medinah. Lastly, Rickie Fowler is young, confident and has Ryder Cup experience, all of which combined make him excellent at match play.

Being a match play event, there is no cut as players are eliminated after each round. We'll still be posting on Friday to let you know what's going on at the halfway point of the tournament. Stay tuned for that and enjoy some great golf this week!


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

GMac has done well in past match play events