Five things we learned from the Accenture Match Play

Let’s be honest, we’re all incredibly busy. Nobody has time to sit down and watch four rounds five days worth of match play coverage — unless, of course, you watch TV for a living, and if that’s the case, please email us your number. So in an effort to condense the tournament coverage for you into a few quick hits, here are five things we learned from the Accenture Match Play.

It’s only a matter of time before Rory McIlroy takes over the top spot — It didn’t happen at the Accenture, but we all know it’s only a matter of time before the kid from Northern Ireland moves to No. 1 in the world rankings. For the most part, McIlroy’s play during the week was mediocre, but if he can get all the way to the finals of the Match Play with his C-game (yes, that was his C-game), then I’d hate to see what would’ve happened to his competition if he put everything together and brought his A-game to the desert.

Go back to the old match play format, please — Ever heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? The higher-ups running the Accenture would probably do best to follow that motto in the future, after the tournament went away from the traditional 36-hole final and decided to play an 18-hole semifinal on Sunday morning, followed by the 18-hole championship match. The new format forced the Golf Channel to show the Westwood/Mcilroy match early in the morning, which was a shame given the fact it was the marquee matchup of the tournament. Someone needs to wake up and rectify this problem before next year’s event rolls around.

Mark Wilson deserves more respect — If you want a sneaky-good pick for the Masters, then you may want to consider a certain Cheesehead with a lot of game. And, no, we’re not talking about Steve Stricker. Wilson, who has three wins in the past year on the PGA Tour, took out Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwoods at the Match Play, en route to a third-place finish in Marana, Ariz. He’ll never get the credit he deserves, but Wilson continues to prove time and time again that he warrants more than just a passing glance.

We now see why this is most likely it for Dove Mountain — Dove Mountain was ranked near the bottom of Golf World’s rankings of the best courses on tour, and after watching the track confound players for another year with some of the most ridiculous greens on the PGA Tour, you have to believe this was the last time we’ll ever see it on the schedule. Aside from the greens, a number of the holes are incredibly gimmicky, and for as much as the course touts how it was built for match play golf, I just don’t see it. Nobody’s going to shed a tear when the tour announces a new venue for the Match Play starting next year.

Hunter Mahan finally seems to be coming into his own — We’ve been waiting for Hunter Mahan to come into his own, and on Sunday afternoon, he took a big step towards living up to the lofty expectations that were thrust upon him coming out of college nine years ago. He was head-and-shoulders better than anybody else in the field, carding 35 birdies in 96 holes with a new Ping putter in the bag. Whether it was Mahan’s new flat stick or a renewed sense of confidence in his short game, it looks like he’s finally turned the corner with regards to the one part of his game that seemed to hold him back all these years. You’d be hard-pressed to find another American twentysomething playing better golf than Mahan at the moment.

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