Knut,
Did you put the pairing in order? If you did then I would say the the winner of the Quiros Weir match should be able to get by the next match. Third match would then be amongst Cink, Johnson, or the Italian brothers.

The first match will be a tough one. Mike needs to build some momentum with a good result at Pebble.

Some great matches this year, love the Sim Ishikawa matchup. Would be ironic if the Molinari bros end up meeting each other. I agree that Mike will have his hands full trying to get out of the first match against Quiros. Though he did kind of fall to pieces on Sunday in Dubai, 2 3 putt greens and his mo was gone.

If Mike's on his game I think he can beat anybody...Needs a good result at Pebble Beach to recover some MoJo.Eerily similar to last year when he went to Riviera on a high only to finish almost last,the only differences being he missed the cut this year & a different order to the schedule

I went back and numbered the matches in each bracket. In round 2, match 9 would be the winner of match 1 against the winner of match 8, match 10 would be the winner of match 2 against the winner of match 7, match 11 would be the winner of match 3 against the winner of match 6, match 12 would be the winner of match 4 against the winner of match 5.

So Mike could potentially play Ames in round 2 in match 10.

In round 3, match 13 would be the winner of match 9 against the winner of match 12 - and match 14 would be the winner of match 10 against the winner of match 11.

So if Mike made it to round 3 he would face off against Perry/Gay/Zach/Francesco in match 14.

As we have seen before, match play is almost all about putting - and Mike has not been stellar with the flat stick in the early going this year - meaning I am less optimistic this time around.

Now, do we have to do a version of "what if Tiger shows up"?

When does Tiger have to commit to playing? Friday or Sunday?

I think they go by the PGA rules - 5:00 pm ET Friday. Not pre-announcing one way or the other is really inconsiderate for #66 in the OWGR who will need to make cross-Atlantic travel arrangements.

I like the 1st scenario Knut....and I'm 95% sure It will happen.I'd be very suprised if Tiger comes back before Doral if at all this year.If he makes an early return he'll have to deal with a ton more shyte from the media & questions like "are you taking this seriously" & How does Elin feel about you coming back so soon" of course this is just my speculation.No new info from the "Quiet one" ...as for a possible Ames/Weir match-up,they both would have to get by tough matches,but it would be fun to watch

You get your wish - but as I said early in the week, match play is about the flatstick and my previous worry is getting close to the panic point.