News

Day 1 of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship

Published

14 years ago

Feb 22, 2012

Seth Kerr

By Seth Kerr

GolfWRX Staff Writer

When Tiger Woods got called out in 2006 by Stephen Ames, he steamrolled him 9 and 8 for the most lopsided win in the history of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. In a possible sign of just how far Woods has fallen, he could only muster a 1-up victory over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano after being called out by him on Monday.

Their match was more about who would beat himself rather than beat their opponent. Both players struggled with errant tee shots, approach shots and missed opportunities on the green. Fernandez-Castano had a chance to tie the match on No. 18, but his 10-foot birdie putt slid by.

“I think if there was one day to beat Tiger Woods, this was it,” Fernandez-Castano said. “I didn’t take the opportunity. I missed a few shots, and, of course, you can’t miss shots if you want to beat one of the greatest in history.”

His opponent the next round, Nick Watney, dispelled of British Open champion, Darren Clarke, 5 and 4. Watney had a three-hole lead after five holes and never let Clarke into the match.

Another Butch Harmon disciple, Gary Woodland, struggled as well, losing 4 and 2 to Charl Schwartzel. Woodland, making his match play debut, bogeyed five holes and never had a chance in the match. While it is early in his relationship with Harmon, you have to wonder if Woodland is wishing he were back with his former coach, Randy Smith, and manager, Blake Smith (Randy’s son).

The upset of the day went to Ernie Els. Els demolished world No. 1, Luke Donald, 5 and 4. Last year, Donald never trailed in a match. Against Els this year, he never lead. With the loss, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy both have a chance to become No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings depending on their finish this week.

Westwood and McIlroy both continued their quest to get to No. 1 with victories over Nicholas Colsaerts and George Coetzee, respectively. Neither player was ever in much danger of losing their match, although McIlroy lost No. 16 and No. 17 before making par on No. 18 to close out Coetzee. Westwood will be looking to get past the second round for the first time in 11 tries at the match play tournament.

Keegan Bradley may have a spitting problem but on Wednesday, Geoff Ogilvy had a Keegan Bradley problem. Bradley had six birdies and one eagle to go along with no bogeys in beating Ogilvy 4 and 3. Bradley will face “The Mechanic,” Miguel Angel Jimenez, in the next round after besting Sergio Garcia 2 and 1.

Steve Stricker returned to competition after taking five weeks off after the Sony Open. Stricker took time to rest the herniated disk in his neck and work on strengthening the area. Stricker defeated Kevin Na 2 and 1, taking the lead on the 12^th hole and finishing Na off on No. 17.

The most disappointed player flying home has to be Rafael Cabrera Bello. Cabrera Bello had a three-hole lead after five holes against Jason Day and a three-hold lead with three holes left. But Day fought back to force extra holes with two pars and a birdie on No. 18. Day finished off Cabrera Bello on the first extra hole with a 4-foot birdie to win.

The 15 matches won by the lower seed were the most since the first year of the event in 1999. Robert Rock and Matteo Manassero, both No. 15 seeds, won their matches to move on to the second round.

The match of the day tomorrow figures to be Nick Watney and Tiger Woods. Watney comes in hot after his trouncing victory over Darren Clarke, while Woods will be looking to regain some of the form he had early at Pebble Beach.

Round 2 coverage begins at 12 p.m. EST on Golf Channel.

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 OccuNet Classic

Published

14 mins ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

With the PGA Tour across the border in Canada this week, GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore stayed stateside and headed to the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas.

It’s always interesting to see what the guys are playing on the KFT, and this week certainly hasn’t disappointed so far, with some incredible wedge stamping on display.

Check out links to all our albums below.

General Albums

2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT) – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Luke Potter’s custom Cameron putter – 2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT)

News

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Scotty Cameron GOLO 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition

Published

34 mins ago

Jun 9, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @HuskerFlyer is sharing a Scotty Cameron GOLO with a BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition shaft. While the putter is certainly enviable, the Augusta-inspired shaft is equally noteworthy.

From the listing:

Scotty Cameron Golo 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition Scotty Headcover 34″ $375

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.

News

J.T. Poston delivers career-changing victory after major gear changes

Published

22 hours ago

Jun 8, 2026

Alistair Cameron

J.T. Poston required extra holes Sunday to earn a handshake from Jack Nicklaus himself and walk away with the biggest victory of his career.

Poston outlasted Ryan Gerard on the second playoff hole at the Memorial Tournament, and the victory at Jack’s place was aided by two significant gear switches ahead of the tournament in Ohio.

Firstly, Poston swapped from the Titleist Pro V1x to the new Pro V1x Left Dash in his last start at the Charles Schwab Challenge. It’s the ball that made headlines just a month ago, when Jordan Spieth also transitioned into the low-spinning variant at the Cadillac Championship.

Poston’s ball change was spurred by a discussion with Titleist Tour reps about testing some options that could be a little better for him in the wind, after the now four-time PGA Tour winner had gained slightly more speed of late and was feeling like his irons and full wedge shots were overspinning.

Poston spent time testing both the current-generation Pro V1 and the new Left Dash at home the week after the PGA Championship, and at Colonial Country Club, he spent more time dialing things in on the range with J.J. Van Wezenbeeck before deciding to tee up the Left Dash that week. At the time, Poston was 85th in SG: Approach (+0.024); he gained +1.402 at Colonial.

“So we felt like today was going to be a good test of that and it obviously performed really well,” Poston said after a second-round 65 at Muirfield Village which propelled him into the lead. “We had a couple shots that I felt like didn’t quite hit ’em perfect and it hung in there pretty well. So I feel like just having that confidence in that too is big, where I just — we’re trying to hit the smart shot and hit the right shot and just trying to execute and go from there.”

On his way to victory, Poston delivered a dominant performance from tee-to-green and was +8.081 in approach and tied for fourth in greens in regulation.

Poston’s Memorial victory was also the first on Tour for the new torched line of TaylorMade’s 2026 Spider putters. Poston also added the L-Neck Tour X at the Charles Schwab Challenge the week prior, something prompted because “it seems to be working for a lot of the other guys.”

A usually reliable putter, Poston had dropped to as low as 89th on Tour in strokes gained, and when he saw his good friend Denny McCarthy using the Spider, he thought about the change. With the new flatstick in hand, Poston gained close to seven shots on the field at the Memorial and ranked third in SG: Putting for the week.

Poston was the first to agree, though, that neither switch was more important than the other.

“The ball got me there, the putter helped me get it in the hole,” Poston said.

See Poston’s full winning WITB here.