Matthew Coritz

After the longest week in golf, Sam Burns has been crowned the last man standing at the WGC Dell Match Play at Austin Country Club. All told, Sam Burns had to play just shy of 126 holes this week! That’s almost as many holes as the 994 people in the town Sam Burns resides in, Choudrant, Louisiana. Burns is an interesting outlier on the Tour these days. With most guys living in the golf hubs of East Florida, Texas, and the southwest, Burns and his wife settled on small-town Louisiana for their home. He has set up shop at the quaint but serviceable Squire Creek Country Club, a Tom Fazio design. While that may limit his access to coaches, courses, and practice facilities, that hasn’t stopped him from racking up multiple wins over the past couple of years. And really, it does make sense. Life on the Tour is a blur, running city to city, state to state, and having a simple home base to slow down and unwind sure doesn’t seem like the worst idea.  I guess it’s like they say, “Different strokes for different folks.”

Normal tournaments follow the 72-hole stroke play format, but the Match Play is in its own category with the winner having to get through 7 rounds of golf in 5 days. The tournament started on Wednesday with the Group Stage. The Group Stage consists of 16 groups of 4, each filled out based on player seeding 1 through 64. Each golfer plays the other three in their group from Wednesday to Friday and whoever tallies the most points advances out to the weekend. Then the bracket-style 16-man single-elimination begins. This all gets packed into the weekend, with 36 holes each day. It is most definitely a grind, but Burns had no issues getting it done. After a sizzling 2022 which included 3 victories, Burns had gotten off to a relatively stale start to this season. The signs were there though, especially after an encouraging performance last week at the Valspar. Burns came out this week and ran through whoever the bracket put in front of him. This included an impressive win over a good friend and World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler in the semi-finals. While Scheffler has been dominant these last 2 years, this is now the second time that Burns has gotten the better of him in a mano-a-mano format. Burns took him down in a playoff this weekend and also took him down in a playoff to win at Colonial last year. Seems like he’s got his boy’s number. 

Cameron Young played some beautiful golf as well before running out of juice in the final, getting beat 6 and 5 in the Final, a match that was never really in doubt. The little pause at the top of his swing followed by his body absolutely uncorking to demolish the golf ball is something to behold. He seems to compress the golf ball into oblivion but it’s something about those Demon Deacons, they just love racking up the runner-up finishes. I’m sure Young will make his breakthrough soon, just like his pal Will Zalatoris did last year in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Young put together a stunning finish in the semifinal to assist in robbing the golf world of a Rory Mcilroy vs Scottie Scheffler Match Play final that would have been TV viewership gold for NBC. We did end up getting to see those two square off, but unfortunately, it ended up being the Consolation Third-Place match to decide who got the bigger check. 

Sadly, this is the end of the Dell Technologies Match Play Championship. It is currently not on the schedule for the 2024 PGA Tour season. I think this is a huge mistake because the DTMP is just pure fun. It’s also probably the most relatable form of golf to the average fan. I’m not talking about the quality of golf of course, but when you go out with your buddies, chances are you’re teeing it up, possibly throwing some money on it, and you’re playing a match. It’s quirky, it’s different, and it most likely isn’t the fairest way to determine a champion, but who really cares? Especially during the month of March, a bracket-style golf tournament is an absolute must on the schedule. Honestly, golf should go all in. Give me the straight-up single-elimination March Madness of golf. I want to see 1 seeds go down, I want to see cinderella stories, and I want to see FAU making the Final Four. Okay, maybe the last one can’t happen, but the first two definitely can. PGA Tour, don’t mess this up, please bring the Match Play Championship back at least one week of the year. But for now, all eyes head over to Augusta, Georgia. It’s that time. We are now officially a week away from the Masters. Is it Rory’s time to complete the slam? Can Spieth complete the comeback? What if one of the LIV guys steals the show? The Green Jacket is waiting.