Capelle On Golf

I chose three players to win in each bracket (12 of 64) just to give myself a rooting interest in this event. Eight made it to round two, five moved on to round three. These included Tiger Woods, Stuart Appleby, K.J. Choi, Steve Stricker, and Henrik Stenson. Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, and Padraig Harrington failed to advance.

Tiger Express Rolls on
After struggling through the first 13 holes of his fist round match against J.D. “Mr. Practice Swing” Holmes, Tiger found his top gear and has not looked back. Against fellow American Arron Oberholser he was seven under for the first eleven holes to take a 4-up lead, then cruised to a 3&2 win. In an 18 hole par 72 stretch that includes the last five holes yesterday and the first 13 today, Woods was 12 under.
Mickelson Runs in a Buzz Saw
Match play can be brutally unfair. Consider the case of #2 seed Phil Mickelson. Through 17 holes he was six under par. Still, he lost 2&1 to Stuart Appleby, who played his last 11 holes in seven under.
Meanwhile K.J. Choi blew a 3-up lead while shooting a very ordinary 72, then won his playoff over Ian Poulter with a par on a par 5 to advance to the third round. Poulter’s loss ended the possibility of a Saturday showdown between Woods and the self designated #2 in the world.

Nailbitters
Steve Stricker deposited a 50 foot bomb into the cup to win his match with Hunter Mahan on the 20^th hole.
Henrik Stenson, the defending champion, won a seven hole playoff over Trevor Immelman

The “World Cup” – Third Round
The USA doing pretty good so far. Twenty of the original field (31%) were Americans. After two rounds, Americans now make up 44% of the field. The players in bold are my five choices from my original 12 to win. My Little Chance and No Way choices are underlined.

• Tiger Woods (USA) vs. Aaron Baddeley (Australia)
• Paul Casey (England) vs. K.J. Choi (South Korea)
• Jonathon Byrd (USA) vs. Henrik Stenson (Sweden)
• Woody Austin (USA) vs. Bo Weekley (USA)
• Justin Leonard (USA) vs. Stuart Appleby (Australia)
• Rod Pampling (Australia) vs. Vijay Singh (Fiji)
• Steve Stricker (USA) vs. Angel Cabrera (Argentina)
• Stewart Cink (USA) vs. Colin Montgomerie (Scotland)