This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
What if they held a golf tournament and nobody bet?
It's getting to the point for many gamers that their joy in watching golf is tied to playing DraftKings. But for the WGC-Dell Match Play, there was no game, the bracket-type format not suited for DFS.
That doesn't mean it wasn't a great tournament, or that info learned from the week at Austin Country Club can't be used for upcoming stroke-play events, specifically next week's Masters.
With all the top golfers in the world on hand, save Henrik Stenson (he simply decided to skip the tournament), we learned that Jordan Spieth is still struggling, Rory McIlroy still has a certain something holding him back, and Jason Day is … holy moly, Day is unreal! In winning the Match Play for the second time in three years, Day edged McIlroy in a stirring semifinal before subduing Louis Oosthuizen in a runaway final.
And so Day has now supplanted Spieth, again, as the No. 1 golfer in the world. After largely sitting out for more than three months, primarily for the birth of his second child, Day is back full-time, and in full force. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago and now the Match Play, and surely has to be the Masters favorite.
While Spieth played incessantly during the so-called offseason, and McIlroy added events in an effort to better prepare for Augusta, Day, like the tortoise, sat by idly. And while he sits out again this week, Spieth will play Houston. That can't be good for Spieth, can it? We'll see in short order how this all works out for everyone.
McIlroy has seen not one but two golfers wrest his No. 1 ranking, so you had to think he was primed to send a message to Day in their Sunday morning semifinal. And, while the match was tight throughout, Day did just enough to win, and McIlroy missed just enough putts to lose. You could tell in the post-match handshake – pretty fast, not much talk -- that the loss stung McIlroy.
You know what else had to sting, if not scare, McIlroy? On the 16th hole, McIlroy belted his drive 353 yards. But that, staggeringly, was 20 yards -- 20 yards! -- short of Day's mammoth 373. McIlroy was always known as the longest/straightest driver out there, but not anymore.
So, to recap: Day can drive the ball longer and straighter than anyone else, has a short game as good as anyone's and is first in strokes gained: putting among tour regulars.
Day said he planned to head to Augusta very early, this Thursday, to prepare for a full week. Sounds as if everyone else should've gotten there last month.
MONDAY TAKEAWAY
Louis Oosthuizen
When Oosthuizen is on, he's one of the best. That's been hit or miss the past few years, with the South African's recurring back woes. But he's been largely healthy for a while now. And you know why that is? He explained, after losing to Day, that he now travels with his own mattress! It's simple, really. He has his manager schlep it from hotel to hotel around the world. What could be easier? … But back to the golf. Oosthuizen is sneaky long for a little guy, plus has a terrific short game. That's how he steamrollered into the Match Play final. All this bodes well for Oosthuizen heading into Augusta, where he lost to Bubba Watson in a playoff in 2012. He was also runner-up in both Opens last year.
Rafael Cabrera Bello
After finishing 2015 at No. 114 in the rankings, the Spaniard hadn't yet qualified for the WGC-Cadillac, the WGC-Match Play or the Masters. He's now played in the first two, with Augusta on deck. Finishing third at Austin, having beaten McIlroy in the consolation match, moved Bello all the way up to No. 36 in the world. He may not play in the States outside of majors and WGCs, but he surely should be a lineup consideration for those events – and the first one is next week.
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy surely has had his opportunities to win during the past month, and he hasn't been able to deliver. He even had a chance to defeat Day but couldn't drain enough putts. The inability to close is troubling, for sure, and that doesn't create good vibes for McIlroy at the Masters, where he already has bad vibes, having suffered his worst career collapse there in 2011 (final-round 80). At least he's giving himself a breather this week, unlike this guy:
Jordan Spieth
On one hand, Spieth looked like his old self in dominating his Match Play group. Then he got whipped by Oosthuizen in the round of 16. And that makes perfect sense – for a star player not at the top of his game. Spieth continues to pay for his overscheduling during the fall/winter and is showing no signs of learning from it. He's in Houston this week, meaning the Masters will be his third event in a row. Could he win at Augusta? Sure. But everything that's happened in the past few months tells us he won't.
Chris Kirk
As we discussed last week, DraftKings has been valuing Kirk fairly low, in the $6,000 to $7,000 range. And while there were no Match Play DFS games available, Kirk again seemed like a good play in a bracket-type format. Sure enough, he won his group, albeit a weak one with Branden Grace, Russell Knox and David Lingmerth, before being eliminated by McIlroy. At $6,700 for the Masters on DraftKings, Kirk again seems like a great value.
Patton Kizzire
About one and a half years ago, Kizzire wasn't in the top 1,500 in the world – that's right, a comma and an extra zero. Now he's a PGA Tour rookie ranked 57th. Kizzire was the best player on the Web.com Tour last year and is now figuring out the big leagues. He won the Bubba Watson group at the Match Play. He's sixth on Tour in strokes gained: putting. Kizzire won't be at Augusta (unless he wins Houston), but don't count him out of qualifying for the next three majors.
Tony Finau
Winning the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in a playoff over Steve Marino on Sunday won't get Finau into the Masters, but his first victory will open many other doors. Finau is the absolute longest hitter on tour, averaging more than 314 yards per drive, and had an enormously successful rookie season in 2015. But he has struggled mightily in 2016 -- how does missing five of eight cuts sound? Maybe now, the pressure will abate and his talent will carry him, because he sure has talent. Just don't expect it to happen this week in Houston, because a first-win hangover (and we're not talking alcohol) is tough to overcome.
Steve Marino
Marino didn't win for the 209th time on tour, but what an accomplishment for the former rising star derailed by years of injuries. He now has five career runners-up, but this was his first since 2011, and this was also his first top-10 since then. Will he return to his 2009 heights when he was 15th in the point standings? No, but he's a nice story and once again a lineup consideration.
Ian Poulter
Poulter almost won during Match Play week! Hahahahahaha. Oy. One of the big takeaways when the Match Play field was announced a couple of weeks ago was that Poulter wasn't in it, having fallen from the top 64 in the world. He's always been a match play force, especially in the Ryder Cup. Instead, Poulter played Puerto Rico for the first time and, as the highest-ranked player in the field, had the lead after three rounds. Had his 18-foot birdie putt on 18 gone in, he'd have been in the playoff. Third place in a PGA Tour event is nothing to poo-poo, but also don't expect it to trigger a Poulter resurgence.
George McNeill
The first-round leader in Puerto Rico was disqualified after the third round for using a nonconforming club. Which could be just a terrible blunder or far more ominous. The tour hasn't yet announced McNeill's specific transgression, but this could potentially impact his career. Stay tuned.
