In a year where golf stars Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Ernie Els were all out by the second day, the Accenture Match Play Championship has still managed to draw a lot of fans to the course outside of Tucson.
According to KVOA-4, officials have noted that attendance is up 30% over last year's event.
There have been a lot of interesting twists and turns in the match play competition, chief of which being the remarkable play of 17-year old Matteo Manassero, an Italian whose run looks to be coming to an end at the hands of Luke Donald.
Another important piece of news that comes out of this match play? Tiger Woods is now ranked #4 in the world. Graeme McDowell passed Tiger in the rankings after his first round loss on Wednesday.
Waggle Room breaks down a few more of the remaining golfers in the field:
Matteo Manassero -- The youngest golfer to win a European Tour event and a World Golf Championship match, the Italian beat South African Charl Schwartzel, 1-up. His dead-on approach to the 17th led to birdie and the match. ‘I’m just really happy, this feels like a really big achievement for me,’ said the strapping 17-year-old.
Rickie Fowler -- The neon-plated 21-year-old destroyed Mickelson, 6&5. After stuffing a long iron from 232 yards out on the final hole, golf watchers wondered what ever made the flashy young golfer lay up on the 15th at last year’s Phoenix Open. Fowler absolutely dazzled his elder with a birdie, eagle, par, eagle finish. ‘He’s going to do wonderful things for American golf,” Mickelson graciously conceded following his pummeling.
Bubba Watson -- Ellen Degeneres’ biggest fan, the long-hitting Watson has more moving parts in his golf swing than a Ben Crane workout video. That didn’t stop the affable Floridian from closing out two-time 2010 tour winner Mark Wilson, 6&5.
We'll update the stream after the competition has ended for the day.