• A morsel…”But even with the change, it still doesn’t solve one problem that exists in just about any format – the longer the tournament goes, the less interesting it gets because there are fewer possibilities.”

• “Think back to The Players Championship two weeks ago when eight players had a share of the lead on the final day. In the Match Play, it comes down to two players over the final four hours, and that’s assuming it lasts that long. Watson only had to play 12 holes to win.”

• “There are 12 matches involving 24 players on Saturday. There are four matches involving the same four players on Sunday, and that includes the consolation match, which is for world ranking points, FedEx Cup points, the difference of $138,000 and mostly something to fill dead time on television.”

• And this side of the coin...”Imagine having a corporate hospitality tent on the 18th hole. Last year, only three of the 16 matches on the weekend even reached the 18th hole.”

• “With 64 of the world’s top 66 showing up two weeks before the Masters, this should be a time to celebrate a welcome format change from stroke play.”

• “Turns out, the new and compressed schedule dynamics had no effect on the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Gone are the days of top players dreading “the vagaries” of match play.”

• “Yet we’re back to the same old, same old match play chatter: the sponsor isn’t happy with the format. After years of everyone hating to see top players headed to the airport on Wednesday night, the WGC consists of three guaranteed matches via pool play followed by single elimination over the weekend, leaving only four players to entertain the galleries.”

• “Translation: not enough golfers are passing by the corporate tents on weekends even though attention on the golf is fleeting at best, non-existent when the shrimp cocktails come out.”

• “I really haven’t played a whole lot of match play since 2013 and I’m looking forward to it,” said Woods, who played in the Presidents Cup that year and in the 2018 Ryder Cup — his only match play opportunities since.

• “I’m looking forward to the fact that I just get to focus on one guy. Each and every shot is different, and you don’t really care what the rest of the field is doing. I just have to beat the guy standing in front of me.”

• TURSKY: With the switch to TaylorMade wedges from Nike, it seems like you’re changing out wedges more often. I saw you with a new wedge at THE PLAYERS, and then you had one in bubble wrap today [at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play practice round]. It seems like you’re able to change wedges more often. Can you speak to that?

• WOODS:…But after use, at home practicing, bunker work, the grooves started getting worn down so I would send one in, have that re-blasted. That [wedge] would move into the back of the order. Then I had the fresh ones, and I’d wear that one out. Then that would get re-blasted, and eventually they’d come around and I used all 8 sets twice. Then once those were done – so 16 go-arounds – now we have to start it all over again, because they can’t get anymore spin on them. It’s a lot easier now, going through what we had to go through; those long testing sessions, a lot of work with Mike Taylor, a lot of work in the grind room. But when I had them right, I didn’t have to think about it, all I had to do was go hit. But once I wore them out 16 times, we had to restart the process.

• TURSKY: You mentioned Mike [Taylor]. He was such a big part of building your golf clubs. Is he still involved at all with these new irons?

• WOODS: Yeah, he worked on all these irons. He worked on all my wedges. I talk to him probably every few weeks, giving updates on how I feel, things that I think could be better. He’ll bounce a few ideas off me, what I think, what direction we need to go down the road, how can we make them any better than what they are. And this is the same process I went through all those years when I was working with him at Nike. But now working with him at TaylorMade, it’s a lot more seamless.

• James Corrigan at The Telegraph… “….And the prospect of jumping from fourth to the top of the rankings, a previously stated aim he will achieve if he emulates his 2015 success in this event and Dustin Johnson fails to reach the semi-finals and Justin Rose the final?”

• “No, not really,” he said, when asked if it was a big thing. “The big thing is winning my match tomorrow.”

• And right now, it’s not enough to meet demand. Today, accessory sales (ball markers, divot tools, headcovers) are keeping the company moving forward. But Lamb wants to be able to focus on putters. With growth, that should be possible soon. The company is moving headquarters to a new facility in Plano, Texas, with much more space. And more importantly, more machines.

• “If we were only making putters, we wouldn’t be in business,” Lamb said. “Revenue and customer based growth is strictly through accessories. We can make 15,000 products in a year and maybe make three to five hundred putters in a year. And that is going to increase astronomically when we move. Right now, we have two machines and if both are making accessories, we have nothing to make putters on. By the end of next year, we will more than likely have 5 machines. Plus, more people and more storage.”

Full piece.

• “…When Phil tells you he’s feeling your drip, you say and please and thank you, sir. Just ask Haotong Li, who could hardly believe his luck when Phil sauntered over at the Dell Match Play on Tuesday to say what’s up and compliment Haotong on his bold new headwear direction.

• “The best part of this video is obviously Haotong’s reaction-a mixture of terror and elation that Phil even remembered his name, let alone noticed his new Powder-on-Safari lid. “It saves on sunscreen,” Li quips, barely containing his glee as Phil shouts “It’s hard to pull off but you’re doing it!”