Used to be one of the great grudge matches back in the golden days of professional wrestling:
LOSER LEAVES TOWN !
Yeah, typically that was how they’d get rid of one of the bad guys for a while then that particular heel might re-emerge a few weeks later as a mysterious masked man.
So now we come down to this third day of the WGC Match Play and there’s basically one match worth watching, maybe it’s the match they would have wished for on Sunday, in the finals, if everything fell nicely into place.
Jordan Spieth vs. Patrick Reed.
In Austin, this one’s a no-brainer. Spieth is the “good guy” and Reed is the “bad guy” and in this case, the loser leaves town.
Yes, Spieth and Reed just happened to fall into the same little group of four players — Group Four in the draw and a group, one the few, with two unbeatens after the first two days.
This one can’t end in a draw, the way a lot of matches have so far. That’s one thing they need to do away with — no draws. This is not soccer for goodness sakes. The winner of this Spieth-Reed doozy goes on to the Sweet 16 where it finally resembles the basketball championship and if you lose — you’re out. No more groups, no more halves.
Which brings us back to Spieth and Reed. Depending on how these two play on Friday, everything the rest of the way could be pretty anti-climatic. They head out at 1:32 Austin time, 2:32 EST.
There’s no No. 1 player in the world left. Dustin Johnson will be done after his Friday match. Sorry, D.J., you went oh-for-two the first two days — you got burnt by Bernd (Wiesberger) and had by Hadwin, as in the little Canadian — Adam.
“No one expected D.J. to play like that,” Hadwin pointed out after he disposed of Johnson easily on Thursday — 4-and-3 to be blunt.
Yeah, D.J. stunk it up at Austin Country Club and the way he looks now, he better get things together quickly with Masters Week just 11 short days away.
Justin Thomas is not guaranteed to stay either. He’s 2-0 but still has to beat Francesco Molinari, who’s also 2-0.
World’s No. 3 Jon Rahm, a finalist last year, is gone which means no D.J. vs. J.R. Both are leaving town later today.
Which brings us back to Spieth vs. Reed.
They are Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teammates, darn good ones, extremely difficult to beat, big-time point winners in those competitions.
Perhaps this could be one of those “familiarity breeds contempt” situations.
Spieth has the majors, the double-digit wins (11) at a young age (24) and the rock-star money-size endorsements.
Reed has just five wins, he’s three years older than Spieth.
Yes, good old fashioned grudge match.
This may be the only match worth watching in the entire tournament. If it turns out to be a really good one, everything else could be a letdown.
There’s the possibility that all of the four highest-ranked players could be going home today.
The loser of Spieth vs. Reed is definitely going home.
Yeah, can’t wait — Loser Leaves Town.
