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 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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