WGC-Dell Match Play: Five biggest surprises from group play

Tiger Woods rekindles some Match Play magic to advance

There was a time when the last thing you wanted to see was Tiger Woods in your pairing, no matter where you were playing. That went double when it came to the Match Play format. A three-time WGC-Match Play champion, Woods was known to dismantle opponents with ruthless aggression. Don’t believe me? Just ask Stephen Ames.

That match was 13 years ago, before any of Tiger’s injuries would force him out of action for extended periods of time. He was struggling a bit at the time, especially by his standards. And Ames understood that gave him perhaps his only chance in match play. “Anything can happen,” Ames said. “Especially where he’s hitting the ball.”

Well, in that match, Woods hit the ball one place: square in the heart of the hole. The margin of victory that day (9&8, which should be an ESPN 30 For 30 title) is still the largest in event history. For any of you out there who watched “The Wire”, it was very simple. You come at the king, you best not miss.

All that is to say, despite the amazing way that Tiger has come back to relevance – not quite dominance – over the past year, there’s still been a little bit of a question about how he’d hold up in the Match Play. He hadn’t advanced to the round of 16 since winning in 2008, and he hadn’t played it at all since 2013 (a 2&1 loss to Charles Howell III).

While these first three days were far from perfect, especially by Tiger’s standard, when he lit it up, it was just like old times. Young Aaron Wise (as the Twitter-sphere has lovingly dubbed him) was game in Wednesday’s opener, but Woods still won seven holes, including four of the final seven to put him away, 3&1. Tiger didn’t take advantage of three par-5 holes in his Thursday match against a still-underrated Brandt Snedeker on the way to a 2&1 defeat. That set up Friday’s thrilling finale against Patrick Cantlay.

Woods had one clear mission in front of him: win and give yourself a chance to advance. He would still need Snedeker to lose or tie his match against Wise, but none of that would matter if he didn’t take care of business against Cantlay.

Only three of the first ten holes were halved, and Cantlay held the 1-up advantage at that point. But even today, there’s nothing you want to see less than Tiger Woods feeling it in match play, and that’s exactly what happened on Friday.

https://twitter.com/DellMatchPlay/status/1111692014989434880

That hole-out was the third straight hole win for Woods against Cantlay, going from one down to two up in the blink of an eye. It was like a Thanos snap for Cantlay, who certainly caught a few bad breaks, but when Tiger gets on fire, there’s never been anybody who can stand up to that. It’s the swagger, the electricity…it just can’t be replicated.

This also sets up the first ever match play pairing of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who will tee off at 8:30 AM central on Saturday in the Round of 16. If you’re any kind of golf fan, that’s must-see TV, and it just might determine the eventual winner of this tournament. I wouldn’t want a piece of either of these guys on Saturday afternoon.