Tune in at 2:00 PM ET for coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play. Gino Bottero will be liveblogging for your enjoyment.
Welcome everyone! I'll be live blogging the second round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.
The event is being played at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona for the fifth consecutive year.
Par: 72 | Yardage: 7791
Since 1999, the World Golf Championships series has generated more than $38 million for charities across the globe.
Purse: $8,750,000
Winning Share: $1,500,000
FedExCup Points: 550
Past Champions:
2012: Hunter Mahan
2011: Luke Donald
2010: Ian Poulter
2009: Geoff Ogilvy
2008: Tiger Woods
Day 1 Recap: Play was stopped at 1:07 PM ET, 11:07 AM MT due to snow as four inches were dumped on the course before the day was done. Sergio Garcia and Thongchai Jaidee were furthest along as they were on 16 when the horn sounded. Jason Day had the largest lead when play stopped on Wednesday. He led Zach Johnson 6-up through 10 holes. None of the No. 1 seeds made it out on the course before play was halted.
Day 2 Recap: Six delays in the morning in a span of four and a half hours pushed the start of play back to 3:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM MT. When play did get underway there was no shortage of upsets, as 14 of 30 lower seeded players were victorious in the matches that were completed on Thursday, with an additional upset on Friday morning, meaning 15 of 32 lower seeded players advanced to the second round. Among the casualties were top seeds Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, No. 2 seeds Adam Scott and Lee Westwood, No. 3 seeds Charl Schwartzel and Jason Dufner, and No. 4 seeds Keegan Bradley and Dustin Johnson.
Back in 2002, three No. 1 seeds were eliminated in the first round when Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and David Duval all dropped their opening match.
Conditions are going to improve in Arizona as the week progresses. Friday's high is forecast at 56 degrees, and the temperature could reach as high as 63 on Saturday before falling back to the high 50s on Sunday.
The final tee off time for today is scheduled for 2:20 PM ET, 12:20 PM MT, so there will be plenty of time to complete the second round, barring any delays. The plan is to finish all second round matches today, then play the entirety of the third and fourth rounds on Saturday, which would get the tournament back on schedule for a Sunday finish.
Let's pick up play on 2 with the Sticker/Watney match.
Par 5 2nd: Sticker won the 1st, but Watney has a chance to square the match with a long look for eagle. Initially it looked like he had left it short but the putt picked up speed and carried through to the hole and to the bottom of the cup.
Par 3 3rd: A short putt for Luke Donald to halve the hole but he pulled it and that puts Scott Piercy 3-up through 3 holes over the top-seeded Donald.
Par 5 11th: Matt Kuchar with a short birdie look to win the 11th and he rolls it in. That puts Kuchar 1-up in his match with Sergio Garcia.
Par 4 9th: Bubba Watson with a short pitch up onto the green and he nearly holes it for birdie. That leaves Jim Furyk a long par attempt to halve the hole. He pulled his putt and that extends Bubba's lead to 2-up.
Par 5 13th: Nicolas Colsaerts with a good look for birdie to win the 13th. He pushed it slightly and his putt burns the right edge and stays out. Colsaerts remains 2-up over Justin Rose.
Par 3 12th: Matt Kuchar with a long look for birdie to win the hole but he pulled it slightly and it just stayed out to the left. Sergio Garcia with some work to do for a par of his own and he's able to convert. Kuchar remains 1-up in the match.
Par 4 10th: Ian Poulter with a short look for par to win the hole and he rolls it in. He's now 3-up over Bo Van Pelt.
Par 4 5th: Scott Piercy makes his second from the center of the fairway, lands his ball at the front of the green and it carries the ridge all the way to the bottom of the cup for an eagle-2. Piercy is now 4-up over top seeded Luke Donald.
Par 4 14th: Justin Rose with a decent look for birdie but he pushed his putt to the right. Nicolas Colsaerts is inside 2 feet for his birdie and he rolls it in to move to 3-up in the match.
Par 4 10th: Bubba Watson with a long birdie look to win the hole and he bends it in to move to 3-up over Jim Furyk.
Par 4 4th: Nick Watney with a long birdie look to halve the hole and he had the line but not the speed as his ball slid left at the hole and stayed out. Steve Stricker is now 2-up in that match.
Par 5 8th: Hunter Mahan rolls in a long birdie putt to put some pressure on Richard Sterne to make a birdie of his own. Sterne's putt looked to be on line but it rode the right side of the cup and stayed out. Mahan moves to 1-up in the match.
318 yard Par 4 15th: The 15th tee was moved back yesterday to encourage players to lay-up rather than risk making their second from the snowy area in front of the green. With conditions improved the tee has been moved back up and players can try to drive the green. Nicolas Colsaerts had no trouble reaching the putting surface, as he fires his ball over the flagstick to the back of the green. Justin Rose knows he needs to get on as well. He had the distance but pulled his drive slightly and it ends up in the second cut of rough just off the left side of the putting surface.
144 yard Par 3 6th: Scott Piercy with a solid tee shot that lands just right of the flag to set up a good look for birdie. Luke Donald lands his tee shot within three feet of the flag to the left. Both players made their birdie putts to halve the hole.
Par 5 13th: A tough birdie look for Sergio Garcia after hacking his way out of the woods. He rolled it in to win the hole and square his match with Matt Kuchar.
Par 4 15th: Justin Rose with a flop shot out of that left rough and he got more help than he expected as his ball rolled well past the hole. He needs to make his birdie putt to halve the hole and extend the match and he rolled it in. He'll head to 16 with Nicolas Colsaerts 3-up in the match.
Par 5 11th: With Jim Furyk already in for birdie, Bubba Watson needs to make his short birdie putt to halve the hole. An easy putt if you look at the distance only, but a tough downhill putt for Bubba with a lot of left-to-right break on it. He didn't give that break enough respect and his putt slid right.
Par 3 16th: A long birdie look for Justin Rose and his putt slid well off to the right. That leaves Nicolas Colsaerts with two putts to win the match. He left his long birdie attempt well short and both players will have some work to do for their pars.
Par 4 9th: Robert Garrigus with a good look for birdie to win the 9th and he rolls it in to move to 1-up in his match with Louis Oosthuizen.
Par 3 16th: Justin Rose's par putt lipped out and so the first match is in the books.
UPSET ALERT: (10) Nicolas Colsaerts has defeated (2) Justin Rose, 4 &2.
Matchplay just seems to do something to Poulter's putter #CantMiss #WGCby fluffydel via twitter 2/22/2013 7:01:39 PM
Poults is unbelievably good at matchplayby masonmcdonagh via twitter 2/22/2013 7:01:44 PM
There should be more Matchplay golf events annually #GreatSportby gunners218 via twitter 2/22/2013 7:03:22 PM
Ian Poulter aka Mr Matchplay must be the most stylish golfer on tour!!by GavinGoodchild1 via twitter 2/22/2013 7:06:14 PM
Poults is a brilliant matchplay golferby kingandrew96 via twitter 2/22/2013 7:06:18 PM
Luke Donald must not want to golf tomorrow.by StMellion via twitter 2/22/2013 7:06:49 PM
#matchplay just shows that ranking or reputation mean nothing. All world class and anyone can win especially over 18 hole sprint #WGCby DGUKREADING via twitter 2/22/2013 7:10:17 PM
Colsaerts looks like he's in Ryder Cup form. Could be worth a little flutter to win, course is set up for a bomber like him #MatchPlay #WGCby TomJamesBrook via twitter 2/22/2013 7:14:45 PM
Nothing better than a day full of golf to watch. #matchplayby Nick Warner via twitter 2/22/2013 7:21:02 PM
Scott Piercey dominating Luke Donald in the early stages at the WGC Matchplay.by BrookfieldNick via twitter 2/22/2013 7:36:38 PM
golf has majorly improved all round on day 2 of the #wgc #matchplayby SportsNewsIRE via twitter 2/22/2013 7:36:48 PM
Scott piercy v nicolas colsaerts final #redhot #accenture #matchplayby DodiMc89 via twitter 2/22/2013 7:45:15 PM
Well done Coelss #MatchPlayby jeffry lierman via twitter 2/22/2013 7:51:05 PM
