NEWS
Luke List to get another crack at Justin Thomas in WGC-Dell Match Play
By David Paschall
Published on
Luke List's greatest run of his PGA Tour career has resulted in another accomplishment.
The former Baylor School and Vanderbilt University golfer was the last player to qualify for this week's Dell Technologies Match Play event at the Austin (Texas) Country Club. The Dell Match Play begins Wednesday with 64 golfers competing in 16 four-player pools through Friday, and it continues Saturday with a 16-player bracket that resembles the current status of the NCAA basketball tournaments.
"Obviously I am excited to be here," List said Monday. "I feel like I'm playing more consistent and at a higher level than ever, and I truly believe my best golf is still to come."
Saturday will contain the round-of-16 matchups in the morning and the quarterfinals in the afternoon, and Sunday's schedule consists of the semifinals and then the championship and consolation matches. Those who reach Sunday's afternoon matches will wind up playing seven rounds in five days.
This week's field was determined by last week's World Golf Rankings, and List entered this past weekend's Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando ranked 69th. Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott elected to skip the Dell Match Play due to personal reasons or injury, so the players ranked from 65th to 69th last week received invitations.
Those fortunate five were Kevin Na, Charles Howell III, Joost Luiten, Keegan Bradley and List, the former Ringgold resident who finished tied for seventh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and now owns a No. 67 world ranking. List has six top-30 finishes in a row since missing the cut at the CareerBuilder Challenge on Jan. 19, a stretch that includes three consecutive top-20s highlighted by a runner-up finish to Justin Thomas at the Honda Classic on Feb. 25.
List will open Dell Match Play competition in a pool with Thomas, the world's No. 2 player, Italy's Francesco Molinari and Patton Kizzire. Thomas and Kizzire have won twice on tour already this season, with Thomas having won last year's PGA Championship and Molinari finishing in a three-way tie for second.
The Dell Match Play has its top 16 seeds determined by the world rankings and then uses blind draws to fill each group from pools of players seeded Nos. 17-32, Nos. 33-48 and Nos. 49-64.
"Based on the rankings and numbers, I will be an underdog, but that's the beauty of match play," List said. "Anyone can walk away with the trophy on Sunday, because every player here is talented and can beat any other player on any given day. I am looking forward to this challenge just as I do every week."
The entire draw was revealed Monday night on the Golf Channel.
Jason Day (2014 and 2016), Rory McIlroy (2015) and Dustin Johnson (2017) have won the past four Dell Match Play events. The only three-time winner is Tiger Woods, who prevailed in 2003, 2004 and 2008.
Woods does not have a top-100 world ranking despite consecutive top-five finishes at the Valspar Championship and the Palmer Invitational, so he is not playing this weekend.
This article is written by David Paschall from Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.