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Day to make another strong Match Play challenge
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Scheffler seeking third straight Dell final
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Americans have dominated at Austin
For the one and only week all year, on both the PGA and DP World tours, the action switches from strokeplay to match play.
This week's Dell Technologies Match Play tournament will, once again, be held over five days and feature 64 of the world's highest-ranked pros.
For the seventh year in a row, this usually-thrilling event will be staged at Austin Country Club in Texas.
Five of the six Austin champions have been American, with each of the last four finals contested by home players only.
The only eligible member of the world's top 25 not teeing-up this week is No 10 Justin Thomas.
That said, if you remove all ineligible players who are now playing on the Saudi-backed tour, plus those eligible absentees further down the ranking list, this has allowed world No 78 Justin Suh to grab the final spot in Austin.
Tournament Format
Competitors are divided into 16 groups of four and, over the first three days (Wednesday-Thursday-Friday), will each play one 18-hole match against every other member of their group.
Matches during this section of the tournament can be halved and, on Friday evening, the 16 group winners go forward to contest a weekend of knock-out ties.
If two or more players finish tied top of any group, they will take part in a sudden-death shoot-out to decide who qualifies for the Last 16.
These Last 16 games take place on Saturday morning, followed by the quarter-finals in the afternoon.
Semi-finals and final are staged on Sunday, along with a third-place play-off match.
This means that those who survive through to Sunday will play a total of seven matches over five days.
Course Characteristics
Austin Country Club sits close to the Colorado River, some seven miles north-west of Austin City Centre.
This undulating layout is approximately 12 miles south of Round Rock, where Dell Technologies has its international headquarters.
Designed by Pete Dye and opened in 1984, Austin is a parkland course with plenty of danger and five par-four holes of less than 400 yards.
As a match play venue, there are numerous risk-reward opportunities to tempt the world's finest golfers - especially off the tee. Water comes into play on seven holes, most of these on the back nine.
In 2015, architect Rod Whitman was commissioned to carry out, what he describes, as "a restoration of the course". He said: "We developed the holes not changed them, and made some slight modifications to the greens."
Four years later all of Austin's bunkers were renovated, which included filling them with white Arkansas sand.
Latest betting for this week's Dell Technologies Match Play Championship
Three To Watch
Jason Day: A two-time winner of the Match Play, and is the only non-American to succeed in Austin. In six PGA Tour starts this year, the Australian is yet to finish outside the top-20 - and this includes four top-10s.
Matt Kuchar: A good record in this event which has yielded one victory, one runner-up finish, plus two other semi-final appearances - dating back 12 years and over three courses. He is playing this week as the world No 71. Two top-10 finishes so far this year.
Scottie Scheffler: Has only played in this event twice, reaching the final on both occasions - and winning last year. Another top-two finish this week would make him the first player in tournament history to reach three consecutive finals. Since last year's triumph he's won The Masters, The Players Championship and recently regained the No 1 spot in the World Ranking, and is therefore full of confidence.
Course Form page:
RU - Runner-Up; SF - Semi-Finalist; QF - Quarter-Finalist; L16 (beaten in Last 16); G-2 (second in group). Same applies for G-3 & G-4.
Latest betting for next month's Masters Tournament
Note: List Contains Leading Reserves