16 Move on at Match Play Championship


Officials got what they wanted after doing away with the single-elimination format in the $9.25 million WGC-Match Play Championship. The idea behind the change was to keep the marquee players around for longer than 18 holes.

This year all 64 players made it through three days of the new round-robin tournament. But still, only two of the top-10 seeds - Rory McIlroy and Jim Furyk - qualified for the weekend at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.

The 16 players with the best records in their groups advanced to the Round of 16 for single-elimination match play.

When the dust settled Friday, top-10 seeds Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, defending champion Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Bubba Watson and Justin Rose were all sent packing after not winning their four-man groups.

Besides McIlroy and Furyk, the other survivors playing in Saturday's "knockout" round includes Lee Westwood (who beat 2015 Masters' champion Spieth 2-up); Hideki Matsuyama; Louis Oosthuizen; John Senden; Marc Leishman; Branden Grace; Charl Schwartzel; Paul Casey; Tommy Fleetwood; Gary Woodland; J.B. Holmes; Rickie Fowler; Hunter Mahan and Danny Willett.

The Round of 16 will be played Saturday morning, followed by the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. The semifinals will be Sunday morning, followed by the Championship and Consolation matches Sunday afternoon.

In a meaningless match after both had been eliminated, Keegan Bradley and Angel Miguel Jimenez had a bit of a dust-up after the Spaniard claimed Bradley took an improper drop on the 18th hole. While trying to get his point across, Jimenez told Bradley's caddie Steve Hale to shut up.

Hale took exception to this and Bradley - who had already asked Jimenez to "do me a favor" and walk over to his own ball - then stepped right in front of the Spaniard to say: "Don't tell my caddie to shut up."

The issue was finally resolved and Jimenez won the match. Afterward he and Bradley shook hands, but Hale refused to with Jimenez on the 18th green. Later Bradley said: "It was just a heat-of-the-moment thing. It was disappointing.

"I'm pretty bummed out about it. It was just I had a ruling and he felt like he needed to intervene and I felt like he was being inappropriate to me and my caddie. I have nothing but respect for him. He's a great player out here, but I have to be able to stick up for myself when I feel something is wrong."

Jimenez responded, "Whatever he say, now (it) is finished. The round is finished and everything is done. We had a little discussion, but it is done."

For Saturday's early matches and tee times, visit http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-match-play/livescoring.html. For all the scores, visit http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-match-play/livescoring.html.