Poulter, Villegas, Ryo, Sergio, Luuuuke, and Cink Remain at Accenture

Most of the so called “favorites” are headed home from the Accenture Match Play, no doubt so they watch wall-to-wall Tiger Woods press conference and comment coverage. 

Of the top echelon players, only Stewart Cink, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia remain. Not that the rest are slackers. They just do not have the same victory resume.  Geoff Ogilvy, headed up the road to Scottsdale. Rory McIlroy, flying home and then to Honda and Doral.  

But it still brings us to the best day of the Accenture: Friday.  There aren’t so many players that you lose track, and all of the ones who got this far are playing well, making it a real donnybrook.

Also, at this point, you can start projecting to the finals.   Will it be an all English one, pitting Ian Poulter or Oliver Wilson against Luke Donald or Paul Casey? A Spanish speaking final with Sergio Garcia playing Camilo Villegas? A South African final with Tim Clark against Retief Goosen or Charl Schwartzel?

One thing it won’t be is an all American final, because of the bracket set up.  Watney, Crane or Cink can make it to the end, but not two of them.  

My Crystal Golf Ball has a crack in after the last set of predictions.  It must be that five iron I used on it this morning after going only 5 ½ for 16.  Arrrgh!  Nevertheless, intrepidly, I press on. 

1. Ryo Ishikawa over Thongchai Jaidee.  Riding the kid all the way.

2. Ian “looking for the purple outfit” Poulter over Jeev Milkha Singh.

3. Nick Watney over Retief Goosen, figuring that Goose is a bit tired after that marathon match with Ernie Els.

4. Camilo Villegas over Ben Crane.  I’ve seen Villegas when he’s playing well, and he is hard to stop.

5. Stewart Cink over Charl Schwartzel.  Twitter rules.

6. Paul Casey over Brian Gay.  

7. Sergio Garcia over Tim Clark.  If Sergio is on his game, he can beat anybody. 

8. Luke Donald over Oliver Wilson.  A quiet confidence, which is typically Luuuuuuke.

Now, what did the winners and losers have to say? 

“Everybody is so close and even in this field that there's no George Mason in this thing,” Stewart Cink offered. “Eighteen holes is not enough really to separate, you know, the pedigree of golfers.”

“Mike Weir's score card yesterday was fantastic, a phenomenal round of golf. I read nine birdies out of ten holes against Quiros, and I expected him to do the same today,” Paul Casey said about his Thursday opponent.  “I know guys struggle in stroke play events if they go really low one day. To go low the next day, I didn't see any reason why Mike would struggle today, but luckily for me he did.”

“I guess it's just—it's a funny tournament, this match play, because some years you come here you feel like you're playing unbelievable, and you get beaten in the first or second round,” Sergio Garcia quipped. “And some years you come here, and you don't feel quite as great and you manage to somehow get around it.”

“It's the first time I've played match play since the Amateur,” Brian Gay said about his first trip to this event..

“I think the first time ever I got past Ernie,” Retief Goosen said, adding that he thought he putted better than Els Thursday.  “I think this is about the best I've done it in (Accenture Match Play).  And on whether or not he would watch the Tiger Woods announcement, a Retief-ism: “If I'm awake I'll probably watch it, yes.”

“I speak to my wife this morning, she is still watching in the highlight,” Thongchai Jaidee noted about the time differences between here his home country (Thailand).

“I only made one birdie all day, which isn't going to do anything out here,” Rory McIlroy explained. “It's match play, it's very fickle. I could have played a lot better and lost. I could have played a little worse and won.”

“I like this format,” Ian Poulter said. “You get the adrenalin going from the first tee, which is nice.”

Poulter has been calculating what his World Ranking would be based on a variety of finishes. “I've been punching numbers on my iPhone to know exactly where I'd go to,” he explained. “If I finish two this week, I think I'll move to No. 5. And if I win, I guess I get very close to four. And if that certainly happens, it's a very small jump from that position to kind of get into a two spot. It's just a nice position to be in.”

Camilo Villegas recalled a previous loss. “Last night I went to bed, I said, you know what, Geoff beat me last year, I think it's my turn.”

“It's definitely different than the NCAA basketball tournament. There's a pretty big discrepancy ( there) between a 1 and a 16,” Nick Watney said. “But like you saw Steve Stricker won two weeks ago, and lost yesterday. So it's just—it's a crazy format.”

“I've never, ever played with Luke, ever,” Oliver Wilson said about his upcoming match. “I don't need to play with him to know he's going to be tough. He's very solid tee-to-green. He's relentless, pressure all the time.”