Match Play Championship: Hogan Bracket Breakdown
by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 25, 2009 10:20 AM EST
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PrintBen Hogan's bracket features Vijay Singh as the number one player. Singh is the FedEx Cup II winner, but also coming off of knee surgery. He hasn't shown form yet and is probably rusty. The older one gets, the longer it takes to recover from injury. Despite Vijay's great health and work ethic, I don't expect him to make it far this week.
Zach Johnson, as a 7 seed, could be a dangerous guy this week. He has played well so far this season. The problem is that he's not very long and could be at a big disadvantage against whoever he faces in round two - Angel Cabrera or Phil Mickelson. Each played well at Riviera last week.
No one else is this group, except for Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, strike me as real contenders for the championship. Westwood has never advanced out of the third round of the event, so I rule him out. Donald has advanced one round further on two separate occasions, but - again - length is an issue.
Think about Steve Stricker, though. He has a good record in this championship and has played well this season to a point. That point, I think, will be the semi-finals.
Round 1: Singh, Donald, Hansen, Stricker, Mickelson, Johnson, Westwood, Cink
Round 2: Donald, Stricker, Mickelson, Cink
Round 3: Stricker, Cink
Winner: Stricker
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tough bracket
lots of guys playing streaky golf – Singh can’t bend over to read a putt and he’s still hobbling around – and there are a number of solid Euros who know how to play a match (Westwood, McDowell, Kjeldsen, Donald, Hansen). And what happens if Cabrera gets hot ? He’s a snowball rolling downhill if he gets going.
Singh, Curtis, Els, Stricker, Mickelson, McDowell, Westwood, Cink
Singh, Stricker, Mickelson, Westwood
Stricker, Mickelson
Stricker
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Cabrera is my X-factor. I don’t think Phil can win this, even if it is desert golf. If Cabrera starts playing Oakmont kinda golf, look out.
by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 25, 2009 10:31 AM EST reply actions
depends on which Mickelson shows up
You know he’s pumped to get to the semi’s and face off with Tiger – but that driver of his has to behave. He could lose in the first round if he can’t keep it out of the desert – BUT – he was actually listening to Butch Harmon last week. If he listens two weeks in a row, he could win the whole thing.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Reading you guys I’d think Cabrera was on a hot streak after winning at Oakmont last week, not a year and a half ago, and Mickelson is incompetent.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
that's how he is...
..Cabrera doesn’t go on streaks of tournaments – he gets hot for a week, then disappears. He’s really long and feeds on his emotions and momentum. He’s a dark horse, to be sure, but a scary one.
And Mickelson continued his roll at Riviera – a course he knows VERY well – and he couldn’t put good rounds together back to back. None of these guys have seen this course. He’s just a question mark.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I think Mickelson will advance far, but not win. He’s showing that his game is coming around. I just think he is too distracted now to care about winning. Everything is about the Masters. Very anti-Tiger-esque attitude.
El Pato is a streaky guy, which is why I didn’t even pick him to get out of round 1. But, like I said, if he plays like he did at Oakmont – or even last week in LA – then he could be very dangerous.
by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 25, 2009 11:09 AM EST up reply actions
distracted ?
what’s distracting Mickelnuts ? The Arizona cheerleaders coming out ? :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
He’s thinking about Augusta, how to read putts, swing. He’s a mess out there.
by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 25, 2009 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
Wow...
You both picked Stricker to win?? So did I!!! My rounds 2, 3 , & 4, are the same as CG – I’m a fan of Cink, but I’m not sure if he’s ready to go deep this week. Mickelson’s win last week convinced me to let him go deep – otherwise I might have had him out in the 2nd round. I hope we’re all right!!
PS – thanks for the Mickelnuts. :-)
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