Capelle On Golf

That the Accenture Match Play is an international event was underscored by the record low 20 Americans that made up the starting field of 64. After three rounds, however, it is clear that the demise of the American pros was overstated. Indeed, players from the USA now make up 50% of the remaining eight, up from 31% at the start of the tournament. And, if the Americans sweep Saturday morning’s matches, the stage would be set for an All-American semi-finals!

My pretourney choices, which appeared before the start of play on this blog, have been reasonably good, all things considered. Three of my original 12 Picks to Win are still alive. They are shown in bold below. Steve Stricker and Stuart Appleby were eliminated in the third round.

Colin Montgomerie was the only one of my 13 No Way picks to make it to the third round, but he’s gone now. Still, I’m prepared for some egg on my face if Vijay Singh and/or Angel Cabrera advance to the semifinals because they were two of my five Little Chance picks. They obviously are playing better than I expected them to.

Woods now looks like the prohibitive favorite. He’s escaped twice from possible losses. He’s playing phenomenal golf (minus the occasional wayward drive). And he’s got to win only two more 18 hole matches, then it’s on to Sunday’s 36 hole marathon, in which he will be a heavy favorite no matter who he plays.

• Tiger Woods (USA) vs. K.J. Choi (South Korea)
• Woody Austin (USA) vs. Henrik Stenson (Sweden)
• Justin Leonard (USA) vs. Vijay Singh (Fiji)
• Stewart Cink (USA) vs. Angel Cabrera (Argentina)