McIlroy, Spieth eye WGC-Matchplay title

Fans eager for final showdown between the world’s top two golfers

LOS ANGELES: Jason Day will be defending his title when the new look WGC-Matchplay Championship gets underway in San Francisco on Wednesday, but many will be hoping for a final pitting Rory McIlroy against Jordan Spieth.

The stage was set for what could be an enduring golfing rivalry at Augusta National earlier this month when the 21-year-old American Spieth won the Masters, and his first major title, in record-breaking fashion.

McIlroy, at 25 a four-time major winner from Northern Ireland, took fourth place on that occasion and both men spoke of their eagerness to go head-to-head on the biggest of stages.

Whether that will happen on Sunday at Harding Park Golf Club Course is, of course, a matter of conjecture as the top 64 players in the world make the all-too-rare switch from strokeplay to matchplay where the margin between victory and failure is all the thinner.

At least this time around, the margins are somewhat larger. Hitherto, one loss meant a trip home, but the new round-robin format being employed, involving 16 groups of four golfers each, means that second chances are available.

McIlroy is the top seed in Group 1 with strong opposition from 2014 FedEx Cup Champion Billy Horschel, 2012 FedEx Champ Brandt Snedeker and 2012 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner.

Spieth headlines Group 2 where he faces former world number one Lee Westwood, Matt Every and Mikko Ilonen — who was the last player to make it into the draw following the withdrawal for personal reasons of Phil Mickelson.

Mickelson’s absence adds to the non-qualification of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, neither of whom are ranked high enough to gain entry.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2015.

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