Masters hopeful Knox faces tough trio
● Dechambeau first up for Scot in Austin, with Leishman and Aphibarnrat to follow in group stage
Talk about having to do it the hard way. Russell Knox has three tough cookies standing in his way as the Scottish No 1 bids to use this week’s WGCDELL Technologies Match Play in Texas to secure a late invitation to the Masters in a fortnight’s time.
The“groupofdeath”ataustin Country Club, where the action starts today, may well be the one that features Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and a rejuvenated Jim Furyk, but Knox, Bryson Dechambeau, Marc Leishman and Kiradech Aphibarnrat is a tasty one, too.
It’s remarkable to think that Dechambeau did not qualify for this event 12 months ago due to the fact he was still outside the top 64 in the world. He is now making his debut as the sixth-ranked player, having won four times on the PGA Tour and once on the European Tour in the intervening period. The eccentric American is Knox’s first opponent and, as both a former US Amateur and NCAA champion, Dechambeau certainly knows how to eke out wins in this head-to-head format, as well as with a card and pencil.
If Knox can come out on top in that one, it could prove a springboard for a big week for the 33-year-old, but it won’t necessarily get any easier against either Australian Leishman or Thai Aphibarnrat tomorrow and Friday respectively.
Leishman, a Tennant Cup winner at Glasgow Golf Club in his amateur days, has made it to the last 16 twice in five appearances in the event. In addition, he has never lost in singles at the Presidents Cup,
0 Russell Knox, who needs a big week to get into the Masters, is up against, clockwise from top, Bryson Dechambeau, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Marc Leishman in Texas.
making him another formidable opponent in this particular format.
As is Aphibarnrat, who showed his liking for these toe-to-toe encounters when winning the inaugural Paul Lawrie Match Play in 2015 at Murcar Links. He also reached the quarter-finals of this event last year.
In his two previous appearances, Knox has failed to make it out of the group stage so will be hoping he can make it third-time lucky. He is in fine form, having made 11 cuts in a row on the PGA Tour in run stretching back to October.
The Invernesian, who needs to climb from 62nd into the world’s top 50 to join Sandy Lyle in flying the Saltire in the season’s opening major at Augusta National, can also take confidence from the fact he is the only player in the Group 1: Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Branden Grace, Chez Reavie
Group 2: Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, Eddie Pepperell, Emiliano Grillo
Group 3: Brooks Koepka, Alex Noren, Haotong Li, Tom Lewis
Group 4: Rory Mcilroy, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Justin Harding, Luke List
Group 5: Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Matt Wallace, Lucas Bjerregaard
Group 6: Bryson Dechambeau, Marc Leishman, Kirdaech Aphibarnrat, Russell Knox
Group 7: Francesco Molinari, Webb Simpson, Thorbjorn Olesen, Satoshi Kodaira
Group 8: Jon Rahm, Matt Kuchar, J B Holmes, Si Woo Kim
Group 9: Xander Schauffele, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Tyrrell Hatton, Lee Westwood
Group 10: Paul Casey, Cameron Smith, Charles Howell III, Abraham Ancer
Group 11: Tommy Fleetwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Kyle Stanley, Byeong-hun An
Group 12: Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Jim Furyk
Group 13: Tiger Woods, Patrick, Cantlay, Brandt Snedeker, Aaron Wise
Group 14: Tony Finau, Ian Poulter, Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell
Group 15: Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Kevin Na
Group 16: Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Andrew Putnam
group with a WGC win in the bank following his 2015 HSBC Champions success.
For Tiger Woods, his bid to land a remarkable 19th WGC title starts out in an allamerican group that also features Patrick Cantlay, Brandt Snedeker and Aaron Wise. A three-time winner, Woods is making his first appearance in the tournament since 2013
and is looking to use his final warm-up for the Masters to good effect.
“I still need to get cleaner around the greens,” he said in an interview with Golftv as he looked ahead to trying to back up his stunning return to winning ways in the Tour Championship at the end of last season by claiming a fifth Green Jacket. “I need to clean
that up and get more of the easier up-and-downs guaranteed and hit them in there a little closer. I need to sharpen that up going into Augusta because that’s the ultimate test in short game.
“When I get there, I want to have options to hit certain shots. I don’t just have to have one way, one method, because that’s so important there. But, more importantly, if I don’t hit the golf ball well, I can’t get in the correct spots and that’s what people don’t realise. That’s why guys like [Bernhard] Langer, Freddie [Couples], they do well each and every single year because they miss the ball in the right spots and they have the easiest chips Augusta has to offer. They are hard chips, but they are the easiest ones.”
Rory Mcilroy, who also has one eye on the Masters as he gets ready to try to complete a
career grand slam at the fifth attempt, is up against Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Harding and Luke List in his group this week. A win for Mcilroy on the back of his victory in the Players Championship less than a fortnight ago would return him to the world No 1 spot if Dustin Johnson doesn’t reach the semi-finals and Justin Rose finishes outside of the top three.
The group stage, from which 16 winners will go through to a knock-out phase, was introduced in 2015 and ensured star players would be in action for at least three days rather than potentially crashing out on the opening morning.
The tournament sponsors had proposed doubling the group-stage qualifiers to 32 before 36 holes of stroke-play competition over the weekend, but that has not received support from the players.