Golfweek

Are you curious about how to fill out your bracket for the WGC Match Play Championship? Take a look at the breakdown below, which outlines each player's head-to-head record against their first-round opponent.

The head-to-head record is based on common tournaments played.

(Note: OWGR - Official World Golf Rank; Sags - Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings)

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BOBBY JONES BRACKET

Luke Donald (OWGR: 1; Sags: 2) vs. Ernie Els (OWGR: 68; Sags: 97)

Career: Els leads 72-70-4

Trend: Donald is 23-0-1 in their past 24 common starts.

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Jason Dufner (OWGR: 34; Sags: 49) vs. Peter Hanson (OWGR: 35; Sags: 39)

Career: Hanson leads 9-7

Trend: Dufner is 5-2 over the past seven common starts

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K.J. Choi (OWGR: 17; Sags: 19) vs. Kyle Stanley (OWGR: 51; Sags: 36)

Career: Choi leads 14-5-3

Trend: Stanley 3-1-1 over the past five common starts

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Brandt Snedeker (OWGR: 18; Sags: 34) vs. Retief Goosen (OWGR: 50; Sags: 38)

Career: Goosen leads 35-25-4

Trend: Since the start of 2011, the two are tied 6-6-1

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Adam Scott (OWGR: 8; Sags: 18) vs. Robert Rock (OWGR: 59; Sags: 60)

Career: Scott leads 18-3

Trend: Scott leads 3-2 over past five common starts

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Bo Van Pelt (OWGR: 27; Sags: 21) vs. Mark ...

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LOS ANGELES – For those of us watching J.B. Holmes with great curiosity, the first round of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club provided further evidence that his recovery from brain surgery is progressing at a speed almost as fast as the speed he achieves with his Callaway FT Tour driver.

Holmes, under persistent questioning, has said over and over that his swing speed is slower than in the past. “That was just from the surgery,” he said Thursday after shooting a 4-under par 67 that was good for a second-place tie with Hunter Mahan, one stroke behind Phil Mickelson.

Post surgery, Holmes didn’t play golf for several weeks. When he began hitting balls, his neck hurt. “They (surgeons) had to go in between muscles in my neck,” he said, “and it really made my neck where I couldn’t turn it as much. So getting the rotation back in my neck and really feeling like I could swing at it . . . it was really hard for me to go down and get the ball.”

This explains why he topped a shot at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but gradually he is regaining his range of motion.

“Even ...

It is nothing but good news that Tiger Woods has committed to three consecutive PGA Tour events – for the leaders at Camp Ponte Vedra Beach, yes, but also for him. After all, isn’t he the one who consistently has talked of needing “reps”? Well, especially if he advances past a round or two at next week’s Accenture Match Play Championship, he will get in plenty of “reps” now that he also has signed on for the Honda Classic (March 1-4) and the Cadillac Championship at Doral (March 8-11).

The last time Woods played three PGA Tour events in a row, he did OK. It was August of 2009 when he won the Buick Open, then the Bridgestone Invitational, and then had the PGA Championship in his back pocket when the unthinkable happened.

He lost a third-round lead in a major.

To Y.E. Yang!

No disrespect to Yang, but it’s long been my contention that you can forget about the hydrant; Woods hasn’t been the same since “Jack Fleck” Yang took him down at Hazeltine.

Oh, he won a few weeks later at the BMW Championship, but it’s been a trophy-less run on the PGA ...

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - There’s a familiar face at Riviera this week that hasn’t graced the Tour since last May’s Players Championship. Tim Clark, who underwent surgery in August to repair a torn tendon in his right elbow, says he knows his rusty game isn’t quite Tour-ready, but he’s eager to tee it up in competition and assess exactly where he is in terms of strength.

“The arm itself feels OK for now. Obviously I don’t have much speed in the swing, and I’m trying to build that up now. Not that I had a hell of a lot of speed before,” Clark said with a laugh after hitting balls in light rain Wednesday. Clark never has been one of the Tour’s longest hitters, but always has ranked among its scrappiest competitors, collecting nearly $18 million in career earnings.

“It’s going to take a while,” he said. “It feels pretty good. How will I play? Hard to say, really.”

Clark made only four official starts in 2011. He got off to a fast start in Hawaii last season, tying for 17th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and tying for second at ...

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Coming off of an exciting victory Sunday at Pebble Beach, Phil Mickelson is the toast of the PGA Tour. Now the question is, can he maintain the momentum in this week’s Northern Trust Open, his fifth consecutive week of competition?

Mickelson has an odd history after winning an event. In 2009 after he won the Northern Trust Open, Mickelson lost in the Round of 16 at Match Play, but then won his next stroke-play event, the WGC-CA Championship.

After that victory, Lefty missed the cut at the Shell Houston Open and then recorded consecutive top 5s, at the Masters and Quail Hollow.

Mickelson is a 12-1 favorite this week, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers, but he has a peculiar history at Riviera Country Club. Before 2007, Mickelson missed cuts or posted otherwise indifferent performances from 1993 to 2001. After skipping a handful of years, Mickelson returned in 2007 and finished second before consecutive victories in 2008 and ’09.

Though Mickelson has been out of contention during his past two years here -- T-35 last year and a T-45 in 2010 -- Riviera has become one of his favorite Tour stops. Add the fact that he is on his ...

In the middle of Patrick Cantlay’s summer run that hoisted him into the headlines, a Twitter account popped up, purporting to belong to the amateur star. It seemed an uncharacteristic move by the quiet Cantlay. It was. The account was a fraud, and soon removed from the social-media site at the family’s request.

Cantlay, unlike many college kids, has no interest in social media. “I just like doing my own thing,” the UCLA sophomore said. “I’m fine if no one knows what I’m thinking or no one knows what I’m doing on Friday afternoon at 1:57.”

There are plenty of people interested in Cantlay’s inner-most thoughts, though. There’s one question above all the rest that they’d love to have answered: When are you turning pro?

“I’m just worrying about this week and trying to play as best I can this week,” said Cantlay, who is playing the Northern Trust Open on a sponsor exemption. “I’m an amateur this week.”

Cantlay said his father, Steve, and instructor, Jamie Mulligan, have been handling the research required before a potential leap to the pro game.

When asked how the PGA Tour’s ...

Bob Estes didn’t leave Pebble Beach with his fifth PGA Tour title, although he feels as if he won something significant. By sharing 15th place and earning $102,400, Estes piled up enough money during his medical extension to regain full-exempt status.

Give Estes credit: He had taken out an insurance policy, of sorts, by going through Q-School in case he fell short of the money total. But now that he has achieved the money total (he needed to make $74,000 in three events; he made $158,400), he can breathe easier.

“It’s been a long climb,” said Estes, who played only 12 times last year after having undergone wrist surgery at the end of 2010.

Turned down for a sponsor exemption into the Feb. 16-19 Northern Trust Open, Estes shook off the disappointment by shooting 8 under and making only seven bogeys at the AT&T.

Now 46, Estes talks like a young pro, not a grizzled veteran who has won four times on Tour. He credits his work with instructor Jim Flick for rejuvenating his game, and he couldn’t wait to tee it up at Pebble Beach “to test what I’ve been working ...

The 49-minute gap in Sunday’s coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am didn’t rise to the historic level of the 18 1/2-minute gap in the Nixon tapes, but it sure did raise the ire of golf fans. 

Golf Channel was contractually obligated to end early final-round coverage at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, a half hour before CBS was scheduled to come on the air with coverage from Pebble Beach. Unfortunately, that meant Golf Channel had to leave a great story right as it was starting to percolate. It was following a made-for-TV pairing of Phil Mickelson, who had just reached the par-5 sixth in two, and Tiger Woods, who had an eagle putt. But Golf Channel had to sign off before viewers saw Mickelson make his eagle and Woods his birdie. 

That set off the fast-twitch complainers in the Twitter sphere. A couple of examples: 

“I’m not sure what is going on on the #Golf Channel. . .Why are we recapping when there is actual golf being played right now,” tweeted Patrick Claybon, a sports anchor for the CBS affiliate in Birmingham, Ala.

Another person tweeted, “Shame on #golfchannel and #cbssports for the ...

On the surface, the Ken Duke story is like many on the PGA Tour: Good player from middle America makes it to golf’s big leagues, can’t keep it going and has to return to the minors before earning another call-up.

The difference between Duke and his Tour brethren is that since age 15, Duke has been playing golf with a rod running from his shoulder blade to his tail bone to correct scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of his spine.

Duke, 43, tied for seventh at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

As a boy in Arkansas, Duke played baseball and golf. By his early teens, his spine was forming a “C” shape and starting to push into his lungs, causing shortness of breath and prompting surgery.

In October 1984, Duke’s back was curved by 52 degrees and doctors said surgery was imminent for the 15-year-old. On February 25, 1985, the day of the surgery, Duke’s spine was at 72 degrees and worsening. Once the rod was inserted during the surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, the curve of Duke’s back was set at 38 degrees, which is within the range of ...

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – It’s not quite going from the penthouse to the outhouse, but one year has made quite a difference for Pebble Beach icon Bill Murray.

Still basking in the glory of his team win alongside D.A. Points in the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Murray got painful news a few hours after his third round that he had missed the cut on a tiebreaker. One of four teams to finish at 18-under 196, Points and Murray were ousted, because the tiebreaker had come down to four teams for three spots.

While it ended badly, one would have to give Points and Murray credit for a spirited effort. They had started poorly, a 2-under 70 at Spyglass, only to come back with a 60 at Monterey. In Round 3 Saturday, Points birdied the par-4 16th and Murray made a dramatic birdie, net eagle at the 18th to get into the four-way tie for 23rd.

Since the tie-breaker was based on the pro’s score, Murray was doomed because Points finished at 3 under. Davis Love (4 under) got in with Bobby Long, as did Brian Gay (6 under) with John Donahoe and Jonas Blixt (6 ...

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Had it been Sunday, three straight birdies on Pebble Beach’s famed inward nine would have ignited massive roars.

Had it been Sunday, the birdies at 17 and 18 would have caused commotion enough to drown out the noise of crashing waves at Stillwater Cove.

But what Tiger Woods did by shooting 32 on the back, then supporting it with a quiet, but clean front-nine 35, was scripted on a Saturday. An efficient 5 under 67 it was – no denying that. And certainly it cut into his deficit and got him within four of Charlie Wi’s lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, yet for all that, there is this truism: Saturday at this iconic tournament is not about the golf; it is about the golfers who show us that the game is but a vehicle to deliver fun.

Those golfers on this cold, gray, raw day wore rain gear that had leafy camouflage on it (take a bow, Bill Murray). They body-surfed with fans at the 15th tee (the act never gets tired, George Lopez) and they cracked funnier and funnier jokes the worse they played (that would be you, Ray Romano). They ...

Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Rd. 2)

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – We cut to the action in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where there’s a shot to be played. But not just any shot. It is a 10-foot birdie roll, a much-needed jump-start to a round that is eight holes old, but still sputtering. It needs to be studied, to be measured, to be pondered, to be treated with the utmost respect . . . but wait . . . Bryce Molder has turned left and seems to be mesmerized, or at least lost in thought.

Curious, perhaps. Until you realize there’s good reason. He’s playing the 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

• • •

Walking not to the green, but toward the awe-inspiring view of Stillwater Cove, Molder marveled at waves that crashed into the wall and spit spray to impressive heights. In fact, Aaron Baddeley said he had talked to Tim Herron the day before and Herron had talked of being sprayed during his opening round.

On Day 2, at least in the first half of the day, there was just as much fury rolling in and, oh, how that adds to the aura of a day of ...

Golf’s last fortnight has been about large leads blown on Sunday and, if your glass is half full, unlikely comebacks. In this period of deeper fields and talented young players learning their way, no lead seems safe anymore.

The red shirt on Sunday in golf is dead. It has been replaced by the red flag.

The last two weeks on the PGA Tour, men led by seven strokes early in the fourth round but did not win. Johnny Miller has a pet word for that. However you frame it, Kyle Stanley and Spencer Levin each lost control of seven-shot advantages.

The worlds of those two protagonists, of course, couldn’t be more different now. Stanley washed away his misery by, remarkably, making up an eight-shot deficit on Levin and thus passing the torch of pain.

Even Tiger Woods, golf’s best closer ever by about 100 miles, has trouble finishing the deal these days. Tied for the 54-hole lead with eventual winner Robert Rock two weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Woods hit but two fairways and six greens in regulation in the final round and fell into a tie for third, two shots back. That ...

A year after D.A. Points and Bill Murray stole the show at Pebble Beach, it will be someone else that grabs plenty of headlines this week at Pebble Beach.

Tiger Woods returns to the scene of his masterful 2000 U.S. Open victory, this time making his 2012 PGA Tour debut against a strong field that includes Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney and Rickie Fowler.

Woods is coming off a T-3 finish in Abu Dhabi, including being tied for the lead heading into the final round. That performance was on the heels of his win at the Chevron Challenge.

Our fantasy panelists had a good week at the Phoenix Open, with both Jeff Rude and Alex Miceli predicting Kyle Stanley's impressive victory. Miceli takes the lead, but Rude and Jim McCabe are on his heels.

Our panelists seem to think that Tiger and Mickelson will duke it out this week, while the globetrotting Mahan piqued Jeff Rude's interest:

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings for the AT&T National

• 10. Hunter Mahan
• 13. Tiger Woods
• 14. Phil Mickelson
• 17. Zach Johnson
• 19. Nick Watney
• 22. Rickie Fowler
• 23. Bud Cauley
• 25. Spencer Levin
• 28. J.B. Holmes
• 30. Aaron ...