| Get out your brackets. And we're not talking | | | | the serious melodrama in the ice dancing at |
| about the road to Indianapolis. This is March | | | | Torino? The Italian pair, Maurizio Margaglio |
| Madness golf style, and this week's | | | | and Barbara Fusar Poli, fell the day before |
| WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in | | | | the final Monday. Fusar Poli glared at |
| Carlsbad, California, where 64 golfers will | | | | Margaglio after the fall, presumably because |
| bracket down to one standing, who will be | | | | it was his fault. The evening of the final |
| Tiger Woods.I could be wrong. And Duke could | | | | they didn't talk to each other or even look |
| lose in the first round a month from now.This | | | | at each other. It was all so dramatic, all so |
| tournament is fun to watch for upsets. Will | | | | perfect for the Olympics. They skated well in |
| Phil Mickelson make it past Charles Howell | | | | the final, then hugged and kissed."There was |
| III, will Gonzaga lose to Charlotte, should | | | | no problem between us. I did not know what my |
| they meet?Unlike a regularly scheduled PGA | | | | eyes were saying," she said later. I had a |
| Tour event, this is mano y mano for as long | | | | pretty good sense what her eyes were saying. |
| as you're standing, not you against a field | | | | Chalk it up to serious competitiveness, |
| of 150 or more on Thursday. This one starts | | | | however wrong it was to publicly accuse your |
| on Wednesday, too, and ends with a 36-hole | | | | partner with the evil eye. In any case, I bet |
| championship match that starts at 7:30 a.m. | | | | anyone playing Tiger this week will have a |
| on Sunday.Tiger had to bow out of the Nissan | | | | pretty good sense what his body language is |
| Open last week because he was ill, as were | | | | saying.In the outright, Tiger's getting 5-1. |
| many other players. You know how when you | | | | Look at this as a bargain week as he'd |
| come over a sickness you feel like a million | | | | probably be getting more like 2-1 if it |
| bucks, like you can run faster, jump higher, | | | | wasn't match play. Take him at 5-1, 1 unit. |
| tear the cover off a golf ball with your | | | | Retief Goosen and Adam Scott are good bets at |
| driver? Tiger should be healthy at La Costa | | | | 20-1, 25-1, but if Tiger was at 2-1 he'd |
| this week. If so, he walks away with his | | | | still be my pick. Here's what he's done at La |
| third win in this event.The proceedings at | | | | Costa since 1999 (he didn't play in the |
| Riviera turned out to be pretty interesting, | | | | tournament in 2001): T17, 1, 1, T33, 2, T5. I |
| even with the announcement Saturday morning | | | | don't expect a first-round upset.In the first |
| that Tiger had withdrawn. Rory Sabbatini hung | | | | round, take Mark Calcavecchia over Chris |
| tough to win his first PGA Tour event since | | | | DiMarco (11-10), 1 unit: I like Calc in match |
| 2003. I may have been the only guy in the | | | | play. And despite DiMarco's success in the |
| world who supported Sabbatini after the Ben | | | | President's Cup last summer, I don't see much |
| Crane episode last year. Golf needs to pick | | | | to indicate DiMarco is up to the competitive |
| up the pace and to have a little fire. We | | | | aspect of match play. That's my take, though. |
| only really see the fire from Tiger when he's | | | | DiMarco finished second at La Costa last year |
| going well. Sergio to a lesser extent. God | | | | (T9, T33, T17 and T33 before that).Jeremy |
| forbid you should play with a little | | | | Church is a documented member of the |
| passion.Speaking of passion, did you catch | | | | Professional Handicappers League. |