Top Four Seeds Gone And Who Cares With These Match-Ups?

The mood seemed somber on the WGC Accenture Match Play telecast today and I wasn't sure why after they ran through the round of 16 matches. I don't know about you, but losing top seeds Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy is not the end of the world when many of these matches are downright fascinating.

Maybe it's the youth movement afoot combined with the geezer qualities of the others that makes for such an appealing mix? Bob Harig notes:

Spieth and English are among seven players -- the others are Rickie Fowler, Victor Dubuisson, Jason Day, George Coetzee and Webb Simpson -- among the final 16 in the tournament who are 27 or younger.

The intrepid young intern that he is, Golf Channel Digital, got a credential this week and broke down today's results, while Doug Ferguson rounds the day up in game story form, leading with the wild variety of match moods and outcomes.

The round of 16 matches in order of most intriguing (in my book):

M Kuchar (2) vs. J Spieth (3) - Young gun vs. defending champ
H Mahan (8) vs. G McDowell (4) - Ryder Cup re-match   
S Garcia (2) vs. R Fowler (14) - Mr. Jovial vs. Mr. Bracketbuster (Golfweek on Rickie)
V Dubuisson (7) vs. B Watson (3) - The Frenchman vs. His Bubbaness
E Els (8) vs. J Dufner (4) - Stars aligning
L Oosthuizen (8) vs. W Simpson (5) - Opposites attract
H English (9) vs. J Furyk (5) - Pretty boy swing v. Old geezer swing that still works
J Day (2) vs. G Coetzee (14) - Okay, I'll concede this one does not move the needle

The day two highlights: