Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Valspar Championship (Sam Burns)
THIS WEEK: World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, Austin, Texas, March 23-27
Course: Austin Country Club, Austin (Par 71, 7,108 yards)
Purse: $12M (Winner: $2.1M)
Defending Champion: Billy Horschel
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Wednesday-Friday, 2-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel); 2-6 p.m. (NBC) Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-7 p.m. (NBC)
PGA Tour Live: Daily feeds on ESPN+
Social Media: @DellMatchPlay (Twitter)
NOTES: This is one of three events on the PGA Tour that does not use a 72-hole stroke-play format along with the Zurich Classic (2-man team event) and Barracuda Championship (Modified Stableford). … The 64-player field consists of 16 groups competing in round-robin play over the first three days, with players awarded 1 point for a win and a half point for a tie. The player with the most points in each group advances to the Round of 16, with ties broken by a sudden-death playoff. Saturday and Sunday feature single-elimination head-to-head matches. … Bryson DeChambeau will make his first start since the Farmers Insurance Open as he has been recovering from wrist and hip injuries. … Kevin Kisner and Matt Kuchar lead with 16 matches won apiece since the event moved to the Austin Country Club in 2016. Kisner won the event in 2019, Kuchar is not in this week’s field. … Sergio Garcia leads tournament history with 51 matches played. … Six players ranked in the top 64 are not in the field: Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Sam Burns, Harris English and Phil Mickelson. World No. 70 Maverick McNealy got into the field when Burns withdrew on Monday.
BEST BETS: Jon Rahm (+1400 at BetMGM) is 10-5-3 in the event. A star for Team Europe in the 2021 Ryder Cup, Rahm finished second in the Match Play in 2017. … Justin Thomas (+1600) has nine top-20s and seven top-10s in his past 10 worldwide starts. … Viktor Hovland (+1800) is coming off a T33 last week but still has three wins among seven top-10s in his past 10 starts. … Collin Morikawa (+2000) has cooled off with a missed cut and a T68 in his past two starts. He also went 0-2-1 in his debut last year but does have a pair of runner-ups in six starts this season. … Scottie Scheffler (+2000) already has two wins this year and fell to Horschel in last year’s final. … Joaquin Niemann (+3300) has three top-10s and a T22 in his past five starts. … Paul Casey (+3300) is a stalwart of the European Ryder Cup team and has finished second in this event twice. The 24th-ranked player is coming off a T3 at The Players. The world rankings of the past three winners? 32-48-35.
THIS WEEK: Corales Puntacana Championship, Dominican Republic, March 24-27
Course: Corales Golf Course (Par 72, 7,670 yards)
Purse: $3.7M (Winner: $666,000)
Defending Champion: Joel Dahmen
NOTES: This is the first of a four-year extension for the Dominican Republic’s first and only PGA Tour event. … 2020 champion Hudson Swafford is the lone player in the field that has won on tour this season (The American Express). … Puerto Rico native Rafael Campos will make his fifth event start on a sponsors exemption.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Valero Texas Open, San Antonio, Texas, March 31-April 1
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Honda LPGA Thailand (Nanna Koerstz Madsen)
THIS WEEK: JTBC Classic, Carlsbad, Calif., March 24-27
Course: Aviara Country Club (Par 72, 6,609 yards)
Purse: $1.5M
Defending champion: Inbee Park
Race to the CME Globe leader: Danielle Kang
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 9-11 p.m., tape delay; Saturday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Livestream: Thursday-Friday, 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m. (NBC Sports app and golfchannel.com)
Social: @JTBCClassic (Twitter), @jtbcclassic (Instagram); #JTBCClassic
Notes: The 144-player field will be cut to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes. … Rolex Rankings No. 2 Nelly Korda is not in the field as she remain out indefinitely while recovering from a blood clot in her arm . … Park won by five shots over Amy Olson and Lexi Thompson last year. … Cristie Kerr (2015) and Mirim Lee (2017) share the tournament scoring record of 20-under 268. … All five previous winners on tour this year are in the field, representing five different countries. … The average age of winners on tour this year is 26.6.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Chevron Championship, Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Hoag Classic (Retief Goosen)
THIS WEEK: Off.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Miguel Angel Jimenez
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Rapiscan Systems Classic, Biloxi, Miss., April 1-3
–Field Level Media