Match Play sits in busy March

The road to the Masters isn’t what it used to be.

For the past three years, Adam Scott has played at least three tournaments in Florida before heading to the Masters.

Upon leaving the Honda Classic this past weekend, he will log more than 19,000 miles before he arrives at Augusta National.

That journey includes a trip home to Australia. It does not include an appearance at the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play from March 22-26 at Austin Country Club. Scott is not alone. Henrik Stenson, who plans to play three times in the month ahead of the April 6-9 Masters, will sit out the Match Play for the second straight year. Justin Rose wants to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational from March 16-19 at Bay Hill in Orlando, and because he wants to play the week before the Masters, he is likely to skip the Match Play for the first time.

It’s like that for all the top players, courtesy of a PGA Tour schedule packed with tournaments that are hard to skip because of prestige, money, course or the timing. It’s golf ’s March Madness. Gary Woodland would love nothing more than to be at Bay Hill, but Match Play suits him. He was runner-up two years ago in San Francisco. And he is a past champion at Innisbrook, Fla., his first PGA Tour victory, an event that runs March 9-12 this year.

And then there’s Honda champion Rickie Fowler.

“I don’t know yet,” he said when asked if he was playing Match Play.

The moving of the WGC event from Doral to Mexico City is not an issue. Fowler said he’d be playing it this coming weekend either way.

“The biggest thing is you want to make sure you’re ready to go at Augusta,” he said. “I like playing the week before the majors. I feel like I’ve seen that works.”

He has played the Houston Open each of the last three years a week ahead of the Masters, so presumably he’ll be back this year.

Fowler smiled. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” he said.