Tour News
McIlroy, Westwood, Wilson and Mahan make up WGC-Accenture’s Final Four
By Seth Kerr
GolfWRX Staff Writer
Fans, NBC executives, and tournament officials had to be praying Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy won their quarterfinal matches at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Let’s face it, Sung-Moon Bae and Martin Laird don’t have quite the same pizzazz as McIlroy and Westwood facing each other in the semifinals.
Well, everyone will get their wish as both Westwood and McIlroy won to set up a semifinal match. The winner will have the chance to reach No. 1 with a victory in the finals.
Westwood said: “I’ve been at No. 1 couple of times. It would be a different way of thinking to me compared to Rory, who hasn’t been No. 1. He may be thinking about it, but my main goal is to play well or play as well as I’ve been playing — tomorrow morning and try and win that match.”
Martin Laird ended Westwood’s streak of not trailing this week by winning the first hole of the match with a 7-foot birdie putt. Laird did little else in the match, quickly falling three behind after bogeying four of five holes between Nos. 6 to 10. By winning on No. 16, Westwood continued his streak of not having to play the 18th hole in a match. Westwood is looking to become the third player, Luke Donald (2011) and Tiger Woods (2003), to win the championship without playing the final hole.
“Hopefully I can keep playing the way I’ve been playing,” Westwood said. “I felt very solid and I’m not giving much away.”
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy beat Bae 3 and 2. McIlroy never trailed, making six birdies including three of the par-5s.
“I didn’t make many mistakes,” McIlroy said. “I played the par 5s a lot better, which definitely helped.”
Adding intrigue to the match between McIlroy and Westwood is both players used to share Chubby Chandler as their manager before McIlroy dumped him at the end of last year. Westwood criticized the move on Twitter, causing McIlroy to “unfollow” Westwood and Chandler on Twitter (I wonder what Ben Hogan and Sam Snead would think about a Twitter spat).
While both players downplay any feud to the public, it appears the friendship they used to have is gone.
“I think it’s the match that most people wanted, and definitely the match that I wanted,” McIlroy said.
Westwood said that he and McIlroy don’t spend as much time together as they did when we were in the same management group, but he called that understandable.
“Rory doesn’t want to spend time with the people that manage me, and I don’t want to spend time with the people that manage Rory,” Westwood said.
Does that sound all that friendly to you? Didn’t think so.
The second semifinal features Americans Hunter Mahan and Mark Wilson. You have to figure Wilson is comfortable with all the attention going to Westwood and McIlroy as fans and media alike continue to overlook him.
Wilson beat Peter Hansen 4 and 3, never trailing in the match and winning four of the last six holes for the victory. Wilson has not played either Nos. 17 or 18 this week and would be the first player ever to win without playing the final two holes of a match.
Hunter Mahan figures to have something to say about that after his convincing win over Matt Kuchar 6 and 5. While Mahan played solid, Kuchar self destructed, making five bogeys and not winning a single hole. Kuchar missed six putts from inside 12-feet and three-putted two holes on the front side.
“My putting let me down,” Kuchar said. “I think it really came down to putting. I think if I had putted well, I was in the match.”
Mahan didn’t make a birdie until the eighth hole but by that time he already had a 4-up lead due to Kuchar’s poor play.
“Matt couldn’t find the putter today, which is rare for him, because he’s a great putter,” Mahan said. “I got lucky in that aspect. But I played solid, didn’t make any bogeys and didn’t give many holes — and kept the pressure on him.”
PING figures to be especially happy about the results this week as Mahan, Westwood, and Wilson all play Ping products.
Semifinal and final coverage begins on The Golf Channel at 9 a.m. EST and continue until 1:00 p.m. NBC then picks up coverage from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.
GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Ben Taylor – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Paul Barjon – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Joe Sullivan – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Wilson Furr – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Willman – SoTex PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Harrison Endycott – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Kevin Chappell – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Christian Bezuidenhout – WITB (mini) – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Scott Gutschewski – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
Pullout Albums
- Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Taylor with new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Swag cover – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Greyson Sigg’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Davis Riley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Josh Teater’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hzrdus T1100 is back – – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Mark Hubbard testing ported Titleist irons – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Tyson Alexander testing new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Cobra putters – 2024 Valero Texas Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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