2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
The 2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was the 19th WGC Match Play, played March 22–26 at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. It was the second of four World Golf Championships in 2017. Dustin Johnson won the final 1 up over Jon Rahm.[1][2][3]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 22–26, 2017 |
| Location | Austin, Texas, U.S. 30.343°N 97.797°W |
| Course(s) | Austin Country Club |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour Japan Golf Tour |
| Format | Match play – 18 holes |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 7,108 yards (6,500 m) |
| Field | 64 players |
| Prize fund | $9,750,000 €9,042,850 |
| Winner's share | $1,660,000 €1,539,603 |
| Champion | |
 Dustin Johnson | |
| def. Jon Rahm 1 up | |
| Location Map | |
  Austin Location in Texas  Austin Location in the United States | |
Field
The field consists of the top 64 players available from the Official World Golf Ranking on March 12.[4] However, the seedings are based on the World Rankings on March 19.
Henrik Stenson (ranked 5 on March 12, personal reasons),[5] Adam Scott (8, personal reasons),[5] Justin Rose (13, personal reasons),[5] and Adam Hadwin (51, personal reasons)[5] did not compete, allowing entry for Jason Dufner (ranked 65), Kim Kyung-tae (66), Joost Luiten (67) and Pat Perez (68). On March 17, world number nine Rickie Fowler dropped out, replaced by Kim Si-woo (69).
Nationalities in the field
| North America (27) | South America (2) | Europe (22) | Oceania (2) | Asia (8) | Africa (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (27) |  Argentina (1) |  England (9) | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia (2) |  Japan (3) |  South Africa (3) |
 Venezuela (1) |  Northern Ireland (1) |  South Korea (4) | |||
 Scotland (1) |  Thailand (1) | ||||
 Ireland (1) | |||||
 Austria (1) | |||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Belgium (1) | |||||
 Denmark (1) | |||||
 Germany (1) | |||||
 Italy (1) | |||||
 Netherlands (1) | |||||
 Spain (3) | |||||
 Sweden (1) |
Past champions in the field
| Player | Country | Year(s) won | Record | Advanced to | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 2015 | 1−1−1 | Group play | T30 |
| Matt Kuchar | United States | 2013 | 1−1−1 | Group play | T30 |
| Jason Day | Australia | 2014, 2016 | 0−3−0 | Group play | T58 |
Format
In 2014 and earlier editions, the championship was a single elimination match play event. A new format was introduced in 2015, and the championship now starts with pool play, with 16 groups of four players playing round-robin matches, on Wednesday through Friday. The top 16 seeded players are allocated to the 16 groups, one in each group. The remaining 48 players are placed into three pools (seeds 17–32, seeds 33–48, seeds 49–64). Each group has one player randomly selected from each pool to complete the group.[6]
All group play matches are limited to 18 holes with one point awarded for a win and one-half point for a halved match. Ties for first place in a group are broken by a sudden-death stroke play playoff, beginning on hole 1.[6]
The winners of each group advance to a single-elimination bracket on the weekend, with the round of 16 and quarterfinals on Saturday, and the semi-finals, finals, and consolation match on Sunday.[6]
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Rank – Official World Golf Ranking on March 19, 2017.
Results
Pool play
Players were divided into 16 groups of four players and played round-robin matches Wednesday to Friday.
- Round 1 – March 22
- Round 2 – March 23
- Round 3 – March 24
Notes: Round 1
Of the 32 matches played, 10 were "upsets" with the lower seeded player beating the higher seeded player and 5 matches were halved. These included top seeds #2 Rory McIlroy, #5 Jordan Spieth, and #11 Danny Willett losing matches, #3 Jason Day conceding his match and withdrawing from the tournament and #4 Hideki Matsuyama, #7 Sergio García, #9 Patrick Reed, and #16 Matt Kuchar halving matches.[7]
Notes: Round 2
Of the 32 matches played, 15 were upsets with the lower seeded player beating the higher seeded player and 2 matches were halved. These included top seeds #4 Hideki Matsuyama, #6 Justin Thomas, #9 Patrick Reed, #15 Branden Grace and #16 Matt Kuchar losing matches and #3 Jason Day conceding his match. Gary Woodland withdrew from the tournament for personal reasons, conceding his second- and third-round matches and Francesco Molinari withdrew after the second round with a wrist injury, conceding his third-round match. There were 14 players that had perfect 2–0–0 records, including the top seed, Dustin Johnson.[8]
Notes: Round 3
Of the 32 matches played, 14 were upsets with the lower seeded player beating the higher seeded player and 3 matches were halved. These included top seeds #3 Jason Day (concession), #4 Hideki Matsuyama, #6 Justin Thomas, #7 Sergio García, #9 Patrick Reed, #10 Tyrrell Hatton, and #15 Danny Willett losing matches and #2 Rory McIlroy, #5 Jordan Spieth, and #13 Bubba Watson halving matches. Five groups went to sudden-death playoffs, three involving two players and two involving three players. The playoffs went from one to six holes. Eight golfers advanced with perfect 3–0–0 records: #1 Dustin Johnson, #8 Alex Norén, #12 Paul Casey, #14 Phil Mickelson, #20 Brooks Koepka, #21 Jon Rahm, #48 William McGirt, and #62 Søren Kjeldsen. Five of the top 16 seeds advanced while three of the bottom 16 seeds advanced. Nine Americans advance to the round of 16.[9]
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Final 16 bracket
Players by pool: A=5, B=3, C=5, D=3
| First round March 25 – morning |
Quarter-finals March 25 – afternoon |
Semi-finals March 26 – morning |
Final March 26 – afternoon | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Dustin Johnson |
5&4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 44 | Zach Johnson |
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| 1 | Dustin Johnson |
3&2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Alex Norén |
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| 8 | Alex Norén |
3&1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 20 | Brooks Koepka |
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| 1 | Dustin Johnson |
1up | ||||||||||||||||
| 54 | Hideto Tanihara |
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| 47 | Ross Fisher |
4&3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Bubba Watson |
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| 47 | Ross Fisher |
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| 54 | Hideto Tanihara |
4&2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 54 | Hideto Tanihara |
2&1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Paul Casey |
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| 1 | Dustin Johnson |
1up | ||||||||||||||||
| 21 | Jon Rahm |
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| 62 | Søren Kjeldsen |
5&4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 48 | William McGirt |
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| 62 | Søren Kjeldsen |
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| 21 | Jon Rahm |
7&5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 21 | Jon Rahm |
6&4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 61 | Charles Howell III |
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| 21 | Jon Rahm |
3&2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 42 | Bill Haas |
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| 28 | Marc Leishman |
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| 14 | Phil Mickelson |
4&3 | Third place | |||||||||||||||
| 14 | Phil Mickelson |
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| 42 | Bill Haas |
2&1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 46 | Kevin Na |
54 | Hideto Tanihara |
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| 42 | Bill Haas |
1up | 42 | Bill Haas |
2&1 | |||||||||||||
Breakdown by country
| Country | 64 | R16 | QF | SF | F | Ch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 27 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Spain | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| England | 9 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Denmark | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Australia | 2 | 1 | ||||
| South Korea | 4 | |||||
| South Africa | 3 | |||||
| Argentina | 1 | |||||
| Austria | 1 | |||||
| Belgium | 1 | |||||
| Germany | 1 | |||||
| Ireland | 1 | |||||
| Italy | 1 | |||||
| Netherlands | 1 | |||||
| Northern Ireland | 1 | |||||
| Scotland | 1 | |||||
| Thailand | 1 | |||||
| Venezuela | 1 |
Prize money and FedEx Cup/OWGR points breakdown
| Place | Description | US ($) | Euro (€) | Points | OWGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Champion | 1,660,000 | 1,539,603 | 550 | 74 |
| 2 | Runner-up | 1,045,000 | 969,208 | 315 | 44.4 |
| 3 | Third place | 678,000 | 628,826 | 200 | 29.6 |
| 4 | Fourth place | 545,000 | 505,472 | 140 | 22.2 |
| T5 | Losing quarterfinalists x 4 | 298,000 | 276,387 | 101 | 14.43 |
| T9 | Losing round of 16 x 8 | 158,000 | 146,541 | 68.25 | 8.65 |
| T17 | Those with 2 points in pool play x 13 | 93,308 | 86,540 | 44.34 | 4.55 |
| T30 | Those with 1.5 points in pool play x 9 | 74,000 | 68,633 | 25.56 | 3.04 |
| T39 | Those with 1 point in pool play x 12 | 63,500 | 58,894 | 13.74 | 2.26 |
| T51 | Those with 0.5 points in pool play x 7 | 54,071 | 50,150 | 7.51 | 1.55 |
| T58 | Those with 0 points in pool play x 7 | 49,500 | 45,910 | 5.44 | 1.21 |
| Total | 9,750,000 | 9,042,850 |
References
- Casey, Phil (March 27, 2017). "Dustin Johnson wins World Match Play title to claim tournament hat-trick ahead of the Masters". The Independent. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- Murray, Ewan (March 26, 2017). "Dustin Johnson defeats Jon Rahm to win WGC Match Play". The Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- DiMeglio, Steve (March 26, 2017). "Dustin Johnson stays hot, holds on to edge Jon Rahm for Match Play triumph". USA Today. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- "Week 10 – 2017" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. March 12, 2017.
- Lavner, Ryan (March 12, 2017). "Dufner, Perez in line for WGC-Match Play spots". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
- "Format Overview and Glossary". PGA Tour. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- "Dustin Johnson makes 5 birdies en route to first-round Match Play win". ESPN. March 22, 2017.
- "Soren Kjeldsen, Alex Noren win groups in wild day at Match Play". ESPN. Associated Press. March 24, 2017.
- "Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson reach knockout stage of Match Play". ESPN. March 24, 2017.
- "Gary Woodland withdraws from Match Play for personal reasons". ESPN. March 23, 2017.
- Sobel, Jason (March 22, 2017). "Jason Day withdraws from Match Play to be with ailing mother". ESPN.