I love Match Play, and I love March Madness (not because I love basketball but because of the crowd pleasing, great television making upsets).  A great first day of the Accenture Match Play with our world number one going to down to Mr. easy going Ernie Els 5 and 4.  For those of you who are new to match play golf, and are not sure what 5 & 4 means, it means that Ernie not only beat Luke but molly whopped him.  The definition of a molly whopping is when the world number one gets beat by an aging player who just squeaked into this event and didn’t have to play the last four holes.  The first day loss of Luke Donald also means that Rory Mcilroy now has a great chance to play well and take over as our new #1.  I am hoping for a little change at the top with a W from Rory (who won his first round match 2 up).

Besides golf’s #1 falling so soon, there was some other great matches.  Tiger Woods had a come from behind victory after loosing the first two holes to  Gonzalo Fdez-Castano.  Not Tiger’s best day but enough to advance him to the second day of play.  One of my favorite moments from day one came from the Dustin Johnson/Jim Furyk match up.  On the par five 13th hole Jim Furyk holes out from about 40 yards out for a birdie 4, only to have DJ steal the thunder by holing out from roughly 25 yards out for an eagle.  Dustin went on to beat Furyk after 20 holes of play.

I cannot wait to check out day two and see what happens to Tiger, Dustin, Rory, and Els.  Could we have an Accenture Match Play Champion who is in his 40’s?  Will there be a new world #1? Will Tiger finally get over the hump and win on the PGA Tour?  Did anyone watch the golf in Mexico? Only the next few days will tell.