Austin Country Club. PGA Tour

This week’s WGC-Dell Match Play Championship is being held for the last time at Austin Country Club, and this would appear to be the last we’ll see of the match-play format for an individual PGA Tour event for the foreseeable future. (It’s also quite likely the last event played under the World Golf Championships banner after a 24-year run.) At least we’re going out with a strong field featuring eight of the top 10 players in the world, led by recent Players victor Scottie Scheffler looking to defend yet another championship.

A year ago, Scheffler won in Austin, defeating Kevin Kisner in the final, for what was his third title in a six-week span. The victory propelled him to World No. 1 for the first time and was a prelude to his Masters win two weeks later. Along with Scheffler, we’ll see Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Tony Finau in this March Madness-esque event.

The 64-player field will be split into 16 four-man groups for a three days of round-robin primed for chaos and upsets. The winners from each pool advance to the weekend, with the last 16 and quarter-finals scheduled for Saturday and the semi-finals and final on Sunday en route to crowning a champ.

The winner will receive 550 FedEx Cup points and a $3.5 million share of the $20 million purse.
Thursday tee times
10.20am (6.20pm UAE) Tony Finau v Adrian Meronk
10.31am Kurt Kitayama v Christiaan Bezuidenhout
10.42am Will Zalatoris v Harris English
10.53am Ryan Fox v Andrew Putnam
11.04am Cameron Young v Corey Conners
11.15am Sepp Straka v Davis Thompson
11.26am Jon Rahm v Keith Mitchell
11.37am Billy Horschel v Rickie Fowler
11.48am Jordan Spieth v Taylor Montgomery
11.59am Shane Lowry v Mackenzie Hughes
12.10pm Max Homa v Kevin Kisner
12.21pm Hideki Matsuyama v Justin Suh
12.32pm Sam Burns v Adam Scott
12.43pm Seamus Power v Adam Hadwin
12.54pm Patrick Cantlay v K.H. Lee
1.05pm Brian Harman v Nick Taylor
1.16pm Collin Morikawa v Adam Svensson
1.27pm Jason Day v Victor Perez
1.38pm Viktor Hovland v Si Woo Kim
1.49pm Chris Kirk v Matt Kuchar
2pm Sungjae Im v J.T. Poston
2.11pm Tommy Fleetwood v M. McNealy
2.22pm Scottie Scheffler v Alex Noren
2.33pm Tom Kim v Davis Riley
2.44pm Matt Fitzpatrick v Min Woo Lee
2.55pm Sahith Theegala v J.J. Spaun
3.06pm Xander Schauffele v Aaron Wise
3.17pm Tom Hoge v Cam Davis
3.28pm Tyrrell Hatton v Lucas Herbert
3.39pm Russell Henley v Ben Griffin
3.50pm Rory McIlroy v D. McCarthy
4.01pm Keegan Bradley v Scott Stallings

FRIDAY (times TBD)
Jordan Spieth v Shane Lowry
Taylor Montgomery v Mackenzie Hughes
Max Homa v Hideki Matsuyama
Kevin Kisner v Justin Suh
Sam Burns v Seamus Power
Adam Scott v Adam Hadwin
Patrick Cantlay v Brian Harman
K.H. Lee v Nick Taylor
Collin Morikawa v Jason Day
Adam Svensson v Victor Perez
Viktor Hovland v Chris Kirk
Si Woo Kim v Matt Kuchar
Sungjae Im v Tomy Fleetwood
J.T. Poston v Maverick McNealy
Scottie Scheffler v Tom Kim
Alex Noren v Davis Riley
Matt Fitzpatrick v Sahith Theegala
Min Woo Lee v J.J. Spaun
Xander Schauffele v Tom Hoge
Aaron Wise v Cam Davis
Tyrrell Hatton v Russell Henley
Lucas Herbert v Ben Griffin
Rory McIlroy v Keegan Bradley
Denny McCarthy v Scott Stallings
Tony Finau v Kurt Kitayama
Adrian Meronk v Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Will Zalatoris v Ryan Fox
Harris English v Andrew Putnam
Cameron Young v Sepp Straka
Corey Conners v Davis Thompson
Jon Rahm v Billy Horschel
Keith Mitchell v Rickie Fowler