Rory McIlroy Looks Good for the WGC-Accenture Match Play

MARANA, AZ: The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship starts tomorrow (see the tee times, US Mountain time, here).  On Monday, I followed Rory McIlroy on the back nine at the Dove Mountain Golf Course. He eagled the par 5 in the video above after a great 300+ yard drive (in the video). Rory had a small staff of photographers following him, video-taping each shot from different angles. I asked one of the photographers how he thought Rory was playing right now and the answer was "Great!" as you can see from his swing and the drive in the video above. Rory tees off at 11:25 am Mountain Time against Boo Weekley and we should expect him to play well for the week.

Being from Wisconsin, I have a horse in this race and plan to follow Steve Stricker who has an 8:05 AM match against George Coetzee from South Africa. Steve has not played a professional tour event for 5 months and I will be interested to see how he plays in this match.

If you hit the PLAY ALL button in the video you will also get to see video of Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand who I also followed on Monday. Tomorrow he has a 12:05 PM Mountain Time match against Henrik Stenson, the highest ranked player in the field. Kiradech is the lowest ranked player in the filed and got in to the tournament when Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott chose not to play in the event.

In case you want to handicap these matches:

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour Statistics
Boo Weekley PGA Tour Statistics
Steve Stricker PGA Tour Statistics
George Coetzee PGA Tour Statistics
Henirk Stenson PGA Tour Statistics
Kiradech Aphibarnrat PGA Tour Statistics