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Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood in Trouble at Accenture Match Play Championship?
February 21, 2011
World No. 1 Lee Westwood will face Henrik Stenson of Sweden instead of Tori Taniguchi in the first round of this week’s Accenture Match Play Championship.
This is the only change from last week’s ranking, where Taniguchi held the 64th and last spot in the field, but it does represent quite a change for Westwood.
Stenson might be No. 69 in the world ranking (OWGR) this week and No. 65 last week, but the Swede belongs in the top 15 in the world and is only ranged this low due to a recovery period from former injuries.
If Stenson finds his old form this week, even Westwood is in for a bit of a challenge.
While world No. 2 Martin Kaymer is likely to advance from his battle with Korean Noh Seung-yul, Tiger Woods could be in trouble against his old friend, Dane Thomas Bjorn, who has found new inspiration in the game and won in Qatar on the European Tour three weeks ago.
Denmark’s Anders Hansen was the only player to play his way into the top 64 over the final weekend prior to Monday’s qualifying deadline. Hansen improved from No. 70 in the OWGR to No. 52 by virtue of his T2 at the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour.
Funny things are likely to happen in the bracket from the word "go" at Dove Mountain this week.
Westwood, defending champion Ian Poulter (No. 12) and two-time runner-up Paul Casey (No. 6) headline a group of six Englishmen who have qualified for the Accenture Match Play Championship. A total of 40 players from outside of the United States representing 14 countries have qualified.
England and Australia have most players qualified with six, followed by South Africa with five and South Korea and Japan with four apiece.
Italy has three representatives followed by Denmark, Northern Ireland, Spain and Sweden with two. Colombia, Germany, Ireland and Scotland each have one player qualified.
Matches in first round:
| Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 | Player Lee Westwood, England Martin Kaymer, Germany Tiger Woods, U.S. Phil Mickelson, U.S. Graeme McDowell, N. Ireland Paul Casey, England Rory McIlroy, N. Ireland Steve Stricker, U.S. Luke Donald, England Jim Furyk, U.S. Ernie Els, S. Africa Ian Poulter, England Matt Kuchar, U.S. Dustin Johnson, U.S. Robert Karlsson, Sweden Retief Goosen, S. Africa Francesco Molinari, Italy Hunter Mahan, U.S. Bubba Watson, U.S. Louis Oosthuizen, S. Africa Alvaro Quiros, Spain Tim Clark, S.Africa Miguel Angel Jimenez, Spain Edoardo Molinari, Italy Charl Schwartzel, S.Africa Adam Scott, Australia Kim Kyung-Tae, Korea Robert Allenby, Australia Rickie Fowler, U.S. Geoff Ogilvy, Australia Zach Johnson, U.S. Nick Watney, U.S. | vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs vs | Rank 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 | Player Henrik Stenson, Sweden Noh Seung-yul, Korea Thomas Bjorn, Denmark Brendan Jones, Australia Heath Slocum, U.S. Richard Green, Australia Jonathan Byrd, U.S. Matteo Manassero, Italy Charley Hoffman, U.S. Ryan Palmer, U.S. Jeff Overton, U.S. Stewart Cink, U.S. Anders Hansen, Denmark Mark Wilson, U.S. Hiroyuki Fujita, Japan K.J. Choi, Korea Ryan Moore, U.S. Sean O’Hair, U.S. Bill Haas, U.S. Bo Van Pelt, U.S. Y.E. Yang, Korea Camilo Villegas, Colombia Yuta Ikeda, Japan Martin Laird, Scotland Ryo Ishikawa, Japan Ben Crane, U.S. Jason Day, Australia Ross Fisher, England Peter Hanson, Sweden Padraig Harrington, Ireland Justin Rose, England Anthony Kim, U.S. |
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