If the Match Play was medal play

The real groups of death

Above all else, you did not want to be drawn into Groups 1 or 10. Six of the week’s 10 best players – Johnson, MacIntyre, Long, Cantlay, Harman and Ortiz – competed in those two groups.

Cantlay defeated Harman Wednesday despite Harman making eight birdies, and appeared well-positioned to take Group 10 when he scorched Ortiz Thursday, producing six more birdies.

But Hideki Matsuyama, who looked listless in Wednesday and Thursday efforts against Ortiz and Harman, rose up against Cantlay Friday. He birdied the first three holes, led by four at the turn, and finished off Cantlay on the 16th green.

That opened the way for the winner of the Harman-Ortiz match to take Cantlay to a playoff. Harman took that match with another superb round that included five more birdies in 16 holes.

In the playoff – which coincidentally pitted two of the week’s three best players in an elimination match — Harman advanced when Cantlay missed a four-foot par putt on the second hole.

The four members of Group 1 – Johnson, MacIntyre, Long and Kevin Na, would have collectively averaged about 202.5 strokes had the first three rounds been conducted at medal play. The Group 10 quartet would have averaged 203.75, about 10-under par.  The full field average projected to be six strokes higher.