Having Fun Yet?

Safely on the ground in Park City, I'm regretful only that I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to make it to the conclusion of the Golf Channel rebroadcast of the second round matches.  Upsets were to order of the day, with every bracket a sea of red.  Or at least so I imagine, as at Golfweek's website all content is unavailable, including the status of my crimson-hued bracket.

No worries, all four No. 1 seeds are history but the matches continue to be great theater, which is as I recall the reason why saving this event matters.  And the only thing that compares with the glow of yesterday's win-or-go-home drama is the anticipation of today's match-ups.

Alex Myers has the best game story at Local Knowledge, including these highlights:

Biggest "upset of the day" -- Harris English vs. Rory McIlroy:

McIlroy became the latest No. 1 seed to go down (in fact, the remaining three top seeds all lost Thursday), falling to English in 19 holes in a matchup of two of the three active golfers 25 and younger to have multiple PGA Tour titles. In other words, don't count on English being a No. 9 seed in this event next year. The University of Georgia product already has five top 10s in the young season, including a victory.

Match of the day -- Jason Day vs. Billy Horschel:

Horschel went 3 up through four holes and maintained that advantage until Day started chipping away on the back nine. He tied it on No. 16, and then the two matched pars for the next five holes before Day birdied the 22nd hole to move on. The No. 2 seed will face No. 14 George Coetzee, who beat Patrick Reed in 21 holes.

Yes, no Tiger, Phil or Adam, but isn't it kind of their loss?  Just askin'?  I knew that Horschel-Day watch was going to be wild...

But wait, there's more:

"That's soooo match play" moment of the day -- Jimmy Walker's wife, Erin, on Twitter:

"-8 for two days and headed home. Darn it! But man! Match Play is fun though!! Really hope it sticks around!" Yep. More than anything, this format is about timing. You can play great, like you have all season, but if you run into a guy who makes five birdies, an eagle and every clutch par putt he looks at, you're going to be hitting the road regardless.

"That's soooo Bubba Watson" moment of the day:

Only Bubba could play a huge cut on No. 15 that landed just short and left of the green and then funnel off a slope all the way to the back where the Thursday's pin position was. The remarkable drive traveled about 350 yards total and set up an easy two-putt birdie. Watson would win his match against Jonas Blixt, 2 up.

Jonas Blixt "going down" against Bubba.  I'll have to concede that the desert has its moments, but at least they caught his good side.

"That's soooo Jordan Spieth" moment of the day/shot of the day:

In his brief time as a pro, we've learned one thing when it comes to Spieth when he's faced with bunker shots he needs to make: He likes to make them. Granted, Spieth left his first attempt in the trap on No. 3 in his second-round match against Thomas Bjorn, but this was still impressive. With Bjorn in with par, Spieth needed to hole out to halve the hole. He took the flagstick out and boom:

I'll no doubt be receiving a Cease and Desist letter from the nice folks at Golf Digest for my wanton disregard for the doctrine of Fair Use, but I'm happy to fight the suits on behalf of my bast readership.

For those that missed the coverage, here' the Tour's YouTube highlight package:

It shows the great shots, but can't possibly convey the intense drama in the best of the matches.

Shackelford tees up today's matches in order of interest to him:

M Kuchar (2) vs. J Spieth (3) - Young gun vs. defending champ

H Mahan (8) vs. G McDowell (4) - Ryder Cup re-match

S Garcia (2) vs. R Fowler (14) - Mr. Jovial vs. Mr. Bracketbuster

V Dubuisson (7) vs. B Watson (3) - The Frenchman vs. His Bubbaness

E Els (8) vs. J Dufner (4) - Stars aligning

L Oosthuizen (8) vs. W Simpson (5) - Opposites attract

H English (9) vs. J Furyk (5) - Pretty boy swing v. Old geezer swing that still works

J Day (2) vs. G Coetzee (14) - Okay, I'll concede this one does not move the needle

First, after missing the cut in his three previous events, is there a human being alive that thought  Fowler would get through the greatest match-play practitioner alive (Poults) and the hottest player (Walker)?  How is this not great drama?

Secondly, the only three guys that move the needle (and that's being generous to the Aussie don't show), we lose the four No. 1's in the first two days and yet who doesn't want to see what happens in the Mahan-GMac rematch?  

At the risk of backtracking on some prior thoughts, maybe there's nothing (besides the course, of course) that really needs fixing here.  I would posit that we've had more genuine drama and golf excitement (oxymoron alert) in the last two days than in a month of normal tour events.  The problem is that the excitement peaks on Wednesday and Thursday, which creates obvious issues with the television coverage.

And lest we forget, Alex Myers reminds us in another post of how dreary Sunday's at the Match Play final can get.  I make repeated fun of the 2001 Steve Strricker/ Pierre Fulke final (and I need to add that Stricker had fallen of the face of the golf Earth at that point), but that was the result of a depleted field willing to trundle Down Under for 18 holes of golf.  Myer's piece is about a more relevant example, the following year at La Costa and the epic Kevin Sutherland/Scott MCCarron final.  Who won, I hear you ask?  Who ccares, but it was Sutherland's lone PGA Tour victory.

I took that detour to remind all that the issue of soporific Sundays (a term used by one wag that I wish I'd gotten to first) is very real.  In fact it's somewhat surprising that the event survived its first year, which gave us the riveting Jeff Maggert/Andrew Magee final.  the jokes write themselves.... what could be worse than a Maggert/Magee 36 hole final, that being if they went extra holes (38, as it happens).

So here's the reality.  The amazing drama (I know, there's that word again) of the early days of the event is directly a result of the win or go home format.  All discussions of format tweaks, whether round-robin or stroke play qualifying, will inevitably rob the event of its unique intensity (OK, found another word).  Would that be worth it?

Certainly not all Wednesdays and Thursdays will be this exciting, but the worst will be far more interesting than more of the same-old, same-old.  So, flip-flop alert, keep the format as is, find a better venue, keep the date (golfers are for better situated to spend the hours necessary in front of the telly in February than June) and if Tiger doesn't get it, that's a darn shame.