Power Rankings: 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
Golf Channel's game has a new look in 2019.
This year in addition to picking a tournament winner we’re also shifting the focus to head-to-head matchups, with both the Golf Pick ‘Em game and an additional Sunday-only contest that focuses on the final round. Both contests can be found in the NBC Sports Predictor app, which fantasy players can download to make their selections each week.
Players can compete for weekly cash prizes, with the best scores during the season qualifying for the season-ending FJ $100,000 Championship, where cash and prizes will be awarded to top finishers.
The contest continues this week with the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where the match-play format means there won't be a Sunday contest available. Here’s a look at some of the top players you should consider when making picks, as Bubba Watson returns to Austin to defend his title:
1. Rory McIlroy: The Players champ hasn't finished worse than T-6 in any event this year and captured the biggest event of the year just two weeks ago. Even in a fickle format like match play, he deserves the top spot given his current form. His run to the title at TPC Harding Park in 2015 doesn't hurt, either.
2. Dustin Johnson: Johnson struggled Sunday at Innisbrook but still managed a tie for sixth, showing that his power game can translate to nearly any venue. Two years ago he came to Austin in similar form and crushed everyone that got in his way. A similar run this week wouldn't be surprising for the world No. 1 who already has two wins to his credit this year.
3. Jon Rahm: Rahm will have a stern test with Matt Kuchar to get out of group play, but if he's up to the challenge he could make a deep run. Rahm contended each of the last two weeks, finishing T-5 at TPC Sawgrass and T-6 at Innisbrook, and knows Austin Country Club well following his runner-up performance in 2017.
4. Tommy Fleetwood: Fleetwood played in the final group each of the last two rounds at The Players and tied for fifth, a result that came on the heels of a T-3 finish at Bay Hill. His breakthrough performance at the Ryder Cup showed that he's got the chops for match play and his group play draw is somewhat favorable outside of last week's runner-up, Louis Oosthuizen.
5. Justin Rose: Rose quietly tied for eighth at TPC Sawgrass, a welcome return to form more than a month after his impressive win at Torrey Pines. He'll face countryman Eddie Pepperell as well as long-hitting Gary Woodland in group play, but Rose is playing well at the right time as he returns to this event for the first time since 2016.
6. Francesco Molinari: There has to be a spot on this list for the only guy to go 5-0 last year in Paris. Molinari enjoyed the best year of his career last year, including an Open title, and built upon that momentum earlier this month with a stirring win at Bay Hill. Webb Simpson might be the only thing standing between him and a spot in the Round of 16.
7. Bryson DeChambeau: DeChambeau's match play success was on full display during his U.S. Amateur triumph in 2015, and this is surprisingly his debut appearance in the event. But he's the top seed in an eclectic, international group as he looks to build upon an early-season campaign that includes a win in Dubai and top-20 finishes at Riviera and Sawgrass.
8. Justin Thomas: Thomas finished fourth here a year ago, narrowly missing out on a chance to reach world No. 1 for the first time. He's gotten there since, and this week he headlines a group that includes a pair of Euros and another former PGA champ in Keegan Bradley. Thomas has finished third or better three times already this year, including a runner-up showing at Riviera when he lost a 54-hole lead.
9. Ian Poulter: The "match play ninja" will always deserve a look when there's a bracket in play. Poulter has had a quietly strong performance in 2019, with four straight starts going for T-6 or better including the WGC event in Mexico. He got drawn into a group with Tony Finau as the top seed, and will likely look to rekindle the form from last year that took him to the quarterfinals with a Masters spot on the line.
10. Bubba Watson: The defending champ said last week that it would be a "miracle" if he successfully defends his title, but sometimes miracles do happen. Watson cruised to the second of his three wins from last year in Austin, trouncing Kevin Kisner in the finals, and he returns to the Lone Star State on the heels of a T-6 finish in Tampa where his final-round 68 tied for the best of the day.
