MARANA, Ariz.
Bring together the top 64 players in the world and no one knows what to expect.
Especially at the Match Play Championship.
Hunter Mahan, the defending champion, was asked Monday to list the top three players who have the best reputation in this format. He made logical choices in Luke Donald, Tiger Woods and Ian Poulter.
Donald, who won this event in 2011, has a magnificent short game and can produce the kind of shots that change momentum in a match. Poulter, the star of just about every Ryder Cup he plays, has such a strong self-belief that he can will his way to wins, as he did at Dove Mountain in 2010. And Tiger, well, is Tiger.
The brackets are set up like they are in other sporting events, whether it’s a Grand Slam event in tennis or the NCAA basketball tournament. The difference in golf is that over 18 holes, there’s not much to separate No. 1 from No. 64.
It all starts to unfold Wednesday on The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain, a Jack Nicklaus design that features massive slopes on the greens and might not be much fun to play if not for the format of match play.
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