When the truth is known, there is no such thing as a simple drawing in WGC-Dell Technologies matchplay.
Even if you allow the absentees, including Rory McIlroy, the depth is on tour these days so that each of the 16 groups – or brackets – is loaded, as both Shane Lowry and Séamus Power have discovered as the draw for this Weekly edition held in Austin, Texas.
For Lowry, who showed off his matchplay pedigree at last year’s Ryder Cup, but who inexplicably failed to catch fire in the former WGC Mano-Mano fight, came a group that also included Brooks Koepka, who was in the form of Harold Varner III. which contains Erik van Rooyen. .
In the case of Power, the knockout put him in the round-robin stage with world number four Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im and Keith Mitchell.
With a point for a win and a half point for halftime matches by the Round-Robins, the winner of each group advances to the last 16 stages, at which point there is a knockout in real match play.
Lowry, who finished 13th (Players) and 12th (Valspar Championship) in the last two weeks in the last two weeks, will seek to change a relatively poor record in the WGC-Dell Technologies matchplay, which in his six previous visits, he did not see that he was progressing beyond the group stage: his best finish is 2019 on the 24th.
“My game is in great shape and we have a great stretch of tournaments coming up, so I’m really excited for the next run of events,” Lowry said after finishing all four rounds at Valspar in the 60s, but still removed. from the battle for the title, eventually won by Sam Burns, who by the way was pulled out of the matchplay.
Lowry made a quick visit to his family’s home in Florida before returning to move west to Texas.
“I feel like I’ve not had a day off in the last few weeks,” Lowry admitted of a run that saw the weather hit.
“Hopefully I can go out and win my game on a Wednesday and see where it goes from there,” Lowry said to bring the momentum with him to the head-to-head battles that will follow next week (the Jumping from the Valero Texas Open) as he recharges his batteries and focuses ahead of the next US Masters tournament.
World ranking
Power, currently ranked 48th in the world, must stay in the top 50 after the WGC-Dell Technologies tournament if he wants to reach Augusta National. The turning point for the final liberation comes next Monday, with Power at least taking its fate into its own hands.
The Waterford man, who is making his debut in matchplay, has a $ 12 million purse strings for the 64-man field, is also in a tough group with Cantlay among the favorites to lift the title.
The power up on the world rankings (he was 463rd in that equivalent week last year) took him to a new level where he proved extremely comfortable.
With a few players mapping out their favorite run-ups at Augusta, among those who skipped the game are McIlroy, Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama, Harris English and Phil Mickelson.
Burns’ withdrawal after winning the Valspar allowed Maverick McNealy to move from the first alternative to the field.
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