Leishman and Senden in giant killing mode at the WGC Match Play

By David Lord / Expert

While rank outsiders Marc Leishman and John Senden have won both their pool games to be in contention to qualify for the round of 16 at the WGC Cadillac Match Play in San Francisco, their two highly-fancied Australian compatriots Jason Day and Adam Scott were unceremoniously beaten in both their games.

The latter two will now exit the tournament.

The new format has made this tournament very different – and very interesting.

For the first time not every round is sudden death, with 16 pools of four making sure the field plays for three days.

Leishman beat Justin Rose 3 and 2, then 4 and 3 over Ryan Moore, while Senden won at the 19th over Henrik Stenson, then toppled Bill Haas 4 and 3.

Defending champion Day went down 4 an 3 to Charley Hoffman, and repeated the scoreline against journeyman Brenden Grace.

Scott was thumped 5 and 4 by Francesco Molinari, then by a hole to unbeaten Paul Casey.

The 16 pool leaders play Saturday morning, the winners qualify for the quarter finals in the afternoon.

The semis will be decided on Sunday morning, with the final in the afternoon.

How the groups look after two rounds with world number two Jordan Spieth in white hot form, sinking seven birdies on each day with 10 successive one-putt greens today, all of them 12 feet or more.

Spieth is the man to beat.

Group 1
Rory McIlroy, Jason Dufner, Billy Horschel, and Brandt Snedeker.
McIlroy and Horschel both unbeaten after two rounds, and play off tomorrow to advance.

Group 2
Jordan Spieth, Mikko Ilonen, Lee Westwood, and Matt Every.
Spieth and Westwood are unbeaten and meet tomorrow to advance.

Group 3
Henrik Stenson, Bill Haas. John Senden, and Brendon Todd.
Unbeaten Senden takes on Todd.

Group 4
Bubba Watson, Louis Oosterhuizen, Keegan Bradley, and Harris English.
Watson and Oosterhuizen both unbeaten and meet tomorrow to advance.

Group 5
Jim Furyk, Martin Kaymer, Thongchai Jaidee, and George Coetzee.
All four have won a match each – Furyk plays Kaymer tomorrow, so too Jaidee and Coetzee. More than likely a sudden death play-off between tomorrow’s winners will be necessary.

Group 6
Justin Rose, Ryan Palmer, Anirban Lahiri, and Marc Leishman.
Unbeaten Leishman takes on Lahiri.

Group 7
Jason Day, Zach Johnson, Brenden Grace, and Charley Hoffman.
Unbeaten Hoffman meets Grace, Day takes on Johnson.

Group 8
Dustin Johnson, Victor Dubuisson, Charl Schwartzel, and Matt Jones.
Unbeaten Schwartzel takes on one-time winner Jones tomorrow.

Group 9
Adam Scott, Chris Kirk, Paul Casey, and Francesco Molinari.
Unbeaten Casey meets one-time winner Molanari tomorrow.

Group 10
Sergio Garcia, Jamie Donaldson, Bernd Wiesberger, and Tommy Fleetwood.
All four have won one game – Garcia meets Donaldson tomorrow, Wiesberger and Fleetwood do battle, with the winners heading for a sudden-death play off to advance.

Group 11
Jimmy Walker, Ian Poulter, Webb Simpson, and Gary Woodland.
Simpson and Woodland have two wins each, and meet tomorrow to advance.

Group 12
JB Holmes, Brooks Koepka, Russell Henley, and Marc Warren.
Unbeaten Koepka takes on Holmes.

Group 13
Rickie Fowler, Graeme McDowell. Shane Lowry, and Harris English.
Unbeaten Fowler takes on McDowell.

Group 14
Matt Kucher, Hunter Mahan, Stephen Gallacher, and Ben Martin.
Unbeaten Mahan takes on Kucher.

Group 15
Patrick Reed, Ryan Moore, Danny Willett, and Andy Sullivan.
Unbeaten Willett meets Reed tomorrow.

Group 16
Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Na. Joost Luiten, and Alexander Levy.
Unbeaten Matsuyama takes on Na

The Crowd Says:

2015-05-02T02:05:32+00:00

Richard Egan

Guest


Adam Scott. A one season wonder? What has he done with his talent since November 2013. I sincerely doubt that he will ever grace the winners Dias in a GS tournament or second tier event again. He appears to spend most of his time in the Caribbean and forgetting his day job is playing golf. This does not mean hitting balls into the ocean between nappy changes. What he needs to be doing is competing at least every two weeks against the "ENEMY". This is the only way that he will hold his edge and stand up under pressure & the clutch shot to the pin. I can only remember him playing in around five tournaments in 2015 and in these events he either folded on the weekend or did not make the weekend. The guy has as much talent, if not more, than Jason Day but zilch results in comparison in 2015. Even McIroy has a few off tournaments but is more often than not in the top ten, usually much higher. Adam needs to come to terms with the fact that one Green & Gold jacket is no substitute for competition. The quicker he accepts this the better for him Richard Egan.

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