“Maybe the mid-thirties and beyond, this is where I’m gonna have my golden era of golf going forward.”
When Billy Horschel came to Austin for last year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, he hadn’t won an individual PGA Tour event in nearly four years, his match play record was shaky and he wasn’t even a consideration for the Ryder Cup.
One week at Austin Country Club changed all that, however, as the 2017 FedEx Cup champion sliced through the field with relative ease, dispatching local favorite Scottie Scheffler in the final and ending his drought. He went on to win again on the DP World Tour later in 2021 and although he wasn’t a pick for Steve Stricker’s Ryder Cup team, he’s been a model of consistency this calendar year, finishing in the top 20 at four straight events before a nasty sinus infection forced him to pull out of the Players Championship two weeks ago.
Horschel says he’s kicked the infection and is eager to defend his title in Central Texas.
Before the defense begins, Horschel chatted with Golfweek about how iron play has been the key to his resurgence, how family life has balanced him, how he thinks the Texas Longhorns will “get their asses handed to them” in the SEC and how he longs to play in a Ryder Cup.
A loaded field is set for some PGA Tour match play.
Local fan favorite Jordan Spieth highlights a group of major champions as the draw for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play was conducted Monday morning.
The field is divided into 16 four-player groups that will begin three days of round-robin play Wednesday at the Pete Dye-designed Austin Country Club in Texas. The top 16 players in the Official World Golf Ranking who are in the field are the top seeds in each group; each group was filled out randomly.
The three-time major champion Spieth, the 11th seed, is joined by 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott, 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley.
Defending champion Billy Horschel, who defeated Scottie Scheffler, 2 and 1, in last year’s final, is the 12th seed and grouped with Thomas Pieters, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am winner Tom Hoge and Min Woo Lee.
Scheffler, another local favorite and winner of the WM Phoenix Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year, is the No. 5 seed and will face a trio of Englishman in group play — Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Ryder Cup warrior Ian Poulter.
World No. 1 and reigning U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm has U.S. Ryder Cup hero Patrick Reed, Cameron Young and Sebastian Munoz in his group.
Sixth-seed Justin Thomas, who tied for third in last week’s Valspar Championship, will have to deal with Kevin Kisner, the 2019 champion and 2018 runner-up; Marc Leishman; and Luke List, who won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year.
Eight-time PGA Tour winner Bryson DeChambeau is the ninth seed and grouped with Talor Gooch, Lee Westwood and Richard Bland. DeChambeau has not played on the PGA Tour since the Farmers Insurance Open in January. He was in the field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship but withdrew with a wrist injury before play began.
The strongest group based on seeding features Louis Oosthuizen (10th seed), Paul Casey (19), Corey Conners (36) and Alex Noren (50).
After pool play, the format turns to single elimination beginning Saturday.
Four of the top 12 players in the world are not in the field – Players Champion Cameron Smith (No. 6), four-time major winner Rory McIlroy (8th), last week’s Valspar Championship winners, Sam Burns (10th) and reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (12th).
After 3 long weeks of golf, I feel that taking this week to rest and prepare for the busy stretch ahead is best.
After a busy three-week stretch, Sam Burns needs a break.
Following three consecutive missed cuts to end January and begin February, Burns has been on a solid run of form with a T-9 finish two weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a T-26 showing at the Players Championship last week and a playoff win on Sunday to defend his Valspar Championship title.
On Monday morning the 25-year-old withdrew from this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, just hours before the bracket reveal at noon ET.
“I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. After 3 long weeks of golf, I feel that taking this week to rest and prepare for the busy stretch ahead is best. I appreciate the support and look forward to seeing everyone soon.”
Valspar Championship winner Sam Burns has withdrawn from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Burns is replaced in the field by Maverick McNealy. Bernd Wiesberger is now the first alternate.
Billy Horschel defeated Scottie Scheffler 2&1 Sunday to win the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club.
Horschel trailed early when Scheffler birdied the par-4 second hole, but Horschel won the fifth, seventh and ninth holes to take a 2 up lead at the turn. The 34-year-old Horschel, who finished second at the 2021 Workday Championship at The Concession last month, held the lead through the rest of the round to win his first event of the year.
Horschel earned $1,820,000 for his win while Scheffler won $1,150,000.
In the third-place match, Matt Kuchar defeated Victor Perez 2&1. Kuchar earned $740,000 for his third-place finish while Perez won $600,000.
Check out how much money each player earned this week at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
The golf equipment Billy Horschel used to win the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play:
DRIVER:Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees), with Project X EvenFlow Riptide X 65 6.5 TX shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS:Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX shaft; (18 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 6.5 TX shaft
IRONS:Ping Blueprint (3, 5-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
WEDGES:Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (52, 56, 60 degrees bent to 62), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Onyx shafts
It’d be a mistake to say this was Scottie Scheffler’s coming-out party.
Not a grave one perhaps, but an error nonetheless.
Scheffler announced his presence long ago.
This party’s been ongoing for a while now.
The former Texas Longhorn arrived on the PGA Tour scene long before he survived a grueling morning match against match play phenom Matt Kuchar and reached the finals of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play against a torrid Billy Horschel on a blustery Sunday afternoon.
This was just the latest example of Scheffler’s — if not meteoric at least momentous — ascent.
This may not have been how NBC or Dell projected this event to turn out, but many would find themselves properly introduced for the first time to a young, rising star in Scheffler, who is the latest in a long line of outstanding University of Texas golfers. He’s right on the heels of Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Jordan Spieth, in talent if not yet titles.
He’s New Jersey-born, but like most smart folks, got to Texas as soon as he could when his family moved to Dallas when he was 6. That in so many ways prepared Scheffler for a moment like Sunday, from getting tutored by Dallas legend Randy Smith or playing in winds so stiff in Texas it’d blow a man over if his pockets were empty.
That kind of inborn confidence and training helped Scheffler this week as he navigated a dangerous path and overcame a string of opponents like third-seeded Jon Rahm, match play guru Ian Poulter, top 10 golfer Xander Schauffele and 2016 Dell champion Jason Day. In fact, he never trailed in his duel with Kuchar, whose 33 Dell Match Play victories are second only to Woods’ 36.
“He’s a fighter,” Scottie’s mom, Diane, said. “But he’s always very calm.”
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If anything, Scheffler blamed his hotly contested, 1 up victory over Kuchar, the winningest golfer in match play this side of Tiger Woods — on being too comfortable. After solid birdie putts on Nos. 9 and 11 holes to go 2 up, he lost the next two holes with drives in the water before taking the lead for good with a nifty 10-foot putt on No. 17.
“I felt really good about how I was playing all day,” Scheffler said. “My stroke felt good. My swing felt very good, and I was comfortable. I think I was almost too comfortable. Kind of lost focus on 12 and 13. I felt good about my game, and I knew if I kept executing and hitting good shots I would have a chance to win.”
That he did.
With a No. 30 ranking in this week-long grind for 64 of the top 69 golfers in the world, Scheffler may have been the lowest seed to get to this point. But he’s already accomplished enough in his brief pro career that he’s far from a nobody and has such a dominant overall game and a strong will to ensure he’ll be a somebody for a long time.
Scheffler, a tall, powerful 24-year-old who has length and accuracy off the tee and can putt the eyes out of a pin, won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors. He’s finished in the top four of last year’s PGA Championship with three rounds in the 60s. He tied for fourth in his FedEx playoff debut. And he’s already played in five majors, including a couple of U.S. Opens.
When it was mentioned to Tom Kite during Sunday’s semifinals match that Scheffler had yet to win his first PGA event, the 1992 U.S. Open champion said, “The big word you said is yet.”
“There’s no question he’s going to win,” Kite added. “Hey, it may happen this afternoon.”
Scottie Scheffler during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 28, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
One almost wonders if Scheffler’s mad he hasn’t broken through yet in his previous 41 Tour starts. But his family members discount that emotion.
He has finished third in two tournaments at the 2019 Bermuda Championship and the 2020 The American Express.
But no one should be surprised he was playing for his first winner’s check, even if it was his first appearance in the Dell tourney and just his fourth WGC start ever.
Heck, at this rate, Scheffler will become a strong consideration to join the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the knock-down, drag-out at Whistling Straits in September. No one should underestimate this guy, not even Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker.
“He’s so good, he’s just got everything there is,” Kite said. “He’s got tremendous length off the tee, and he’s got the build for today’s game. He’s got so much game. Just been rock-solid on all his putts.”
Scheffler’s been chock full of confidence ever since he won three state championships in high school and competed as an amateur at a couple of U.S. Opens.
Scottie Scheffler during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 28, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images)
On his bag then was his sister, Callie, a former Texas A&M golfer who caddied for her brother for much of his amateur career before she became a commercial real estate developer in Temple. Oddly enough, this is a family that has always come to an understanding since Callie and Molly are Aggies, and Sara and Scottie are Longhorns.
This is such a golf family that Callie even helped club him to a hole-in-one on the second hole when he was playing the hometown Byron Nelson as a teenager.
Scheffler was convinced a 4-iron was the right club. Callie handed him a 5-iron, and in trickled the ace.
“We got a great hugging picture out of it,” their dad, Scott Scheffler, said.
Mom said Callie was always the most prepared caddie he’d ever had.
Of course, Scottie’s pretty much been calm and controlled his entire life. Unflappable, no matter how much stress.
“He had to be even-keeled,” Callie said. “He’s got three sisters.”
In fact, nothing much at all ever rankles Scottie, even though Sara said he’s not too happy with how his March Madness bracket is faring.
But this is definitely one tight-knit family that sticks together, no matter what their college allegiances.
Callie followed her brother’s round Sunday morning along with Sara and Molly as well as Scottie’s wife, Meredith, and mom Diane. Their parents aren’t big golfers. Diane has worked as the CEO of a law firm in Dallas, and Scott pretty much raised the kids. But they all took in every shot Sunday.
“They’re great golf watchers,” Callie said.
Good thing. They figure to watch plenty more high-caliber golf in the future.
Pretty much everyone on Tour has learned that by now.
Why, even Florida Gator Horschel said of Scheffler on Saturday, “Other than being a Texas Longhorn, he’s a really good player. It’s a matter of time before he wins and I’m not saying it because he’s (standing) here. He’s going to have a long career. It’s just a matter of time before he gets a victory.”
Then, he added wryly, “You can pay me later, Scottie.”
The coterie of PGA Tour executives who masterminded the format used for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play clearly didn’t consult in advance the writings of nineteenth-century theologian Tryon Edwards.
“Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another, too often ending in the loss of both,” Edwards famously wrote.
The unbending old minister had a point, at least as it pertains to golf in its purest form. For if we are to dilute the very essence of match play competition — win or hit the road — then we ought to expect a more rewarding pay-off for the sacrifice than Billy Horschel vs. Scottie Scheffler.
That’s not intended as a rap on Horschel and Scheffler, both of whom earned their places in Sunday’s WGC final at Austin Country Club, but it is an indictment of the facile effort to quasi-engineer an outcome favorable to ratings at the expense of competition. Golf and match play are innately capricious, and trying to manufacture from them a particular scenario is a fool’s errand.
That desired outcome is explicitly uncomplicated, if unstated explicitly: showcasing the game’s brightest stars in head-to-head matches on the final day. With all due respect to Messrs. Horschel, Scheffler, Perez and Kuchar, none of Sunday’s competitors are luminous stars of the magnitude imagined.
Billy Horschel during the fourth day of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
It was in 2015 that the Tour dispensed with the straightforward 64-man knockout bracket used since the inception of the WGC-Dell Technologies event sixteen years earlier. A round-robin format was instituted in which 16 four-man groups play over three days to determine who advances to the knockout phase. Early returns seemed to suggest this competitive contortion was yielding the hoped-for product. From ’15 to ’17, the tournament was won by two No. 1 seeds (Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson) and one No. 2 seed (Jason Day).
But that may have owed more to form than format.
Match Play Sundays have typically been the domain of players with more talent than celebrity, men who unquestionably deserve their success but who seldom fire interest among fans. The only thing guaranteed by the addition of group play is an oddball assortment of results that seem jarring in elite competition.
Horschel and Perez, for example, were both defeated on Thursday yet faced off in Sunday’s semi-final. Ryan Palmer and Xander Schauffele didn’t lose a match but both were eliminated Friday, in Schauffele’s case with a record identical to that of Scheffler, a win and two halves. Brian Harman lost his first-round match to Patrick Cantlay, but contested a quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon. Cantlay won two matches but didn’t reach the knockout stage. Abraham Ancer met the same numerical fate, while the man he beat on Thursday, Kevin Streelman, did advance. Daniel Berger trounced Erik Van Rooyen, 6 and 4, on the first day, but you can probably guess by now which one of them still had a tee time in the final 16.
Scottie Scheffler made his birdie putt on No. 11 in the semifinal match of the final day of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
None of this is the fault of the players. They can only contest whatever format is presented. The needless complexity of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is the responsibility of the Tour, which has seldom met a conundrum it couldn’t further complicate (that’s why the FedEx Cup playoffs system has had more touch-ups than Cher). What the format delivered in 2021 is this: the highest seed to reach Sunday was No. 30, Scheffler. Rounding out the last day foursome were Nos. 31, 32 and 52.
Thirteen major championship winners began play on Wednesday. Only one of them — Sergio Garcia — was alive on Saturday afternoon, while among the other dozen only Watson and Jordan Spieth made it out of group play. Just two — TWO! — of the top 31 ranked players in the world made the final 16: Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood.
The vagaries evident in ’21 continue a trend. At the last Match Play, in 2019, 48th-seeded Kevin Kisner edged No. 23 Kuchar. The year before that, Kisner was seeded 32nd and lost the final to No. 35 Bubba Watson, while Justin Thomas was only one of the top 12 seeds to reach the final eight.
As Saturday night fell in Ponte Vedra Beach, somewhere a suit sobbed while staring at the sure-thing algorithm he was convinced could sidestep the beautiful, binary simplicity of W-L and 64-man brackets and deliver a compelling television showdown.
Golf is a fickle mistress and match play its most mercurial format. That is apparent not only in every edition of this tournament, but in Ryder and Presidents Cup play too. If Tour and TV executives want to ensure brand names feature in the Sunday final of the WGC Match Play — don’t expect an official acknowledgment of this desire — there’s only one way to accomplish that: invite only brand names to participate. Because if you prize Goliaths, you’d best stop inviting Davids to the party.
A quirky match play rule surfaced on consecutive holes at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play when Scottie Scheffler found the water twice.
AUSTIN, Texas — As Matt Kuchar lined up his putt on the 12th hole during Sunday’s semifinal match at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play he did so under an odd scenario, knowing that his opponent was standing well behind him — still lining up a wedge.
The reason was a quirky match play rule that surfaced at Austin Country Club when Scottie Scheffler put his second shot into the water on the par-5 12th hole. Kuchar had already hit his second shot and was sitting on the front of the green.
Under the rules of match play, however, Scheffler’s ball is considered closer to the hole because of where it was resting. That meant Kuchar had to putt while Scheffler stood 77 yards from the pin with a wedge in hand.
Golfweek’s rules expert, Ron Gaines, said this is a scenario that rarely presents itself.
“It’s an oddball, for sure,” Gaines said. “But this is determined by where the ball comes to rest, not where it crosses the margin of the penalty. Think of it as a penalty without water. You might go up and see if you can play it. Technically, Kuchar is farther away, because it’s where the ball is resting, not where they’re going to play it from.”
Scheffler was 2 up at the time, but lost the hole and moved on to the risk/reward par-4 13th.
Incredibly, the exact same scenario played out again as Scheffler’s drive landed just shy of the green in the water hazard.
Kuchar was now 90 yards from the flag and Scheffler stood well behind him, waiting to play from 177 yards.
Kuchar pulled the match all square after the peculiar two-hole stretch.
Nick Faldo said on the Golf Channel broadcast to rules official Steve Rintoul that he was unfamiliar with the rule.
“I’ve got Paul Azinger in the tower, we’ve been match players now for 40 years and didn’t even know this was a match play rule, and considering we’ve been calling the match play all these years, this is the first time I’ve experienced this kind of situation,” Faldo said.
The falls under USGA rule 6.4: Order of Play When Playing Hole.
Under the rules, had Scheffler played his shot first, Kuchar would have had the option to cancel the stroke. In other words, if Scheffler put his ball in tight to the flag, Kuchar could have nullified the shot.
The rule states:
In match play, the order of play is fundamental; if a player plays out of turn, the opponent may cancel that stroke and make the player play again.
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The Final Four includes all seeds of 30 or higher heading into Sunday’s final day of action at Austin Country Club.
AUSTIN, Texas — Those hoping this was the year the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play would produce two semifinal matches between top seeds were likely disappointed with Saturday’s results — but the day held plenty of excitement.
The Final Four includes all seeds of 30 or higher as we head into Sunday’s final day of action at Austin Country Club.
