WGC-Match Play Championship Second-Round Pairings

It’s now quite evident that Tiger Woods isn’t close to getting back to normal.

Despite Woods saying he was “close” with his swing under new coach Sean Foley, No. 1 seed Tiger went out and lost to No. 16 seed Thomas Bjorn in the first round of the WGC-Match Play Championship on Wednesday in Arizona. Tiger had dramatically tied the match on the 18^th hole with a birdie, but then his drive on the first playoff hole was so off that it landed in the desert bush and Tiger needed two shots to just get out of there. By comparison every other No. 1 seed won rather easily.

Tiger wasn’t the only upset victim on Day 1. World No. 6 Steve Stricker was stunned by rising star  Matteo Manassero, a 17-year-old Italian who is the youngest player ever in this event. It was a bad day all around for the U.S. as Dustin Johnson and Jim Furyk also went home.

The premier matchup on Thursday is easily Phil Mickelson against Rickie Fowler. Lefty, No. 3 in the world, handled Brendan Jones with no problem in Round 1, 6-and-5.

“The key for me winning this match was driving it,” Mickelson said. “I drove the ball well and kept it in play and didn’t give any holes away.”

Fowler, seeded eighth, beat Peter Hanson 1-up despite Fowler having four bogeys in his first six holes – that’s the beauty of match play. That was Fowler’s first ever Match Play event. Lefty is now 16-10. He is also the -160 favorite to Fowler’s +125 for this match.

Here are the complete Round 2 pairings with local tee time (Mountain time):

9:10 a.m. No. 2 Graeme McDowell vs. No. 10 Ross Fisher

9:22 a.m. No. 14 Stewart Cink vs. No. 11 Y.E. Yang

9:34 a.m. No. 2 Paul Casey vs. No. 10 Jason Day

9:46 a.m. No. 3 Ernie Els vs. No. 6 J.B. Holmes

9:58 a.m. No. 15 Matteo Manassero vs. No. 7 Charl Schwartzel

10:10 a.m. No. 3 Luke Donald vs. No. 6 Edoardo Molinari

10:22 a.m. No. 2 Rory McIlroy vs. No. 10 Ben Crane

10:34 a.m. No. 14 Ryan Palmer vs. No. 6 Miguel Angel Jimenez

10:46 a.m. No. 1 Phil Mickelson vs. No. 8 Rickie Fowler

10:58 a.m. No. 4 Matt Kuchar vs. No. 12 Bo Van Pelt

11:10 a.m. No. 16 Thomas Bjorn vs. No. 8 Geoff Ogilvy

11:22 a.m. No. 13 Mark Wilson vs. No. 5 Bubba Watson

11:34 a.m. No. 1 Lee Westwood vs. No. 8 Nick Watney

11:46 a.m. No. 13 K.J. Choi vs. No. 12 Ryan Moore

11:58 a.m. No. 1 Martin Kaymer vs. No. 9 Justin Rose

12:10 p.m. No. 4 Robert Karlsson vs. No. 5 Hunter Mahan

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