Rahm is top seed for WGC-Dell Match Play
The PGA Tour shakes up the format this week at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
It’s a break from the usual 72-hole, four-day stroke play competition. This event is spread over five days and starts Wednesday with group play.
Jon Rahm, ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the No. 1 seed for the tournament. His group also consists of Patrick Reed (23), Cameron Young (40) and Sebastian Munoz (58). The groups were drawn at random and were announced Monday.
Each golfer plays the other three in his group over the first three days in a round-robin format. Rahm’s first match will be against Munoz on Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. Arizona time. Players receive one point for a win and a half point for a tie. The golfer with the most points in each group after three days advances to the Round of 16 on Saturday morning. The Round of 8 will be Saturday afternoon. The consolation match and the final are set for Sunday.
Rahm has advanced out of group play in two of his last four appearances. He was runner-up in the event in 2017.
Billy Horschel, who won last year as the No. 32 seed, starts his title defense this week as the 12 seed.
Mickelson out of 2022 Masters
Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who is ranked 47th in the OWGR but is not playing in the Match Play event, also will not compete at Augusta National Golf Club this year.
Mickelson, who won the green jacket in 2004, 2006 and 2010, is not listed in the field of active players for the Masters. The six-time major winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame is listed as a past champion who is not playing, according to the tournament’s website.
Mickelson
is on a leave of absence from golf; he last played on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. He has been embroiled in controversy for derogatory comments he made to Golf Digest and Fire Pit Collective about the PGA Tour and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, as well as the repressive Saudi Arabia regime, which is bankrolling a breakaway league led by Greg Norman that will rival the PGA Tour.
Williams to lead ’23 Phoenix Open
The Thunderbirds on Monday officially announced that Pat Williams will serve as tournament chairman for the 2023 WM Phoenix Open. He was assistant chairman last year working with Michael Goldring. George Thimsen will be Williams’ assistant chairman.
“It’s an honor to be named by my fellow Thunderbirds as this year’s Tournament Chairman of the WM Phoenix Open,” said Williams, a graduate of Arizona who is Arizona market director for Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
LPGA legend honored with event
The Arizona Golf Foundation will host the inaugural Marilynn Smith Arizona Women’s Open at Longbow, May 3-5. The tournament, named for one of the 15 founders of the LPGA, will have 144 professionals, amateurs and seniors. The total purse is currently at $87,000 could that figure could grow. Winner’s checks will be $15,000 and $10,000 for each respective division.
The Open Division will be a 54-hole event with 104 players, with the winner taking home $15,000. The 40-player Senior Division will be made up of 20 two-person teams playing a 36-hole scramble and best-ball event over two days. The winning team will split $10,000.
On May 2, the Marilynn Smith Scholarship Pro-Am will feature top amateurs playing alongside special guests and professionals with proceeds going to the Marilynn Smith Scholarship Fund.
Steve