This Week at WorldGolf.com: Feb. 19, 2008

Tiger Woods and company go head to head as match play hits the PGA Tour

Even though the PGA Tour season is still young, we get a break from stroke play this week with the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship at the Gallery Golf Club near Tucson.

I love match play. I love the mano-a-mano aspect of it. It's sort of irrelevant to try to psych out your opponent in stroke play when he's seven strokes behind. But you can see it, even through the television lens, in match play all the time. Every day is critical, not just Sunday.

Match play has produced some delicious moments the last few years, such as when Steven Ames and Rory Sabatini had the temerity - the outright gall! - to challenge Tiger Woods. Woods, of course, dismissed them as casually as a cape buffalo swatting away a pesky fly, but those memories stick in the collective minds of golf fans. Ames still sulks about that incident. Sabbatini, in particular, will be remembered for his saying that Woods looks "as beatable as ever."

Question: When did Woods ever really look beatable? Even when he was going through his swing change, he was more formidable than most other golfers on the planet.

Remember, Sabbatini quit Woods' Target World Challenge in December before the final round. He was in last place. Sabbatini is the second seed in Woods' group, and the pair has a chance to meet in the fourth round.

But, you don't have to wait long for a good matchup. Woods' first-round opponent is J.B. Holmes, the monster-hitting brute who's coming off his second tour win, the FBR Open in Phoenix. Holmes is one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, second only to Bubba Watson in driving distance this season, and Woods can crank it with both of them when he wants or needs to.

Phil Mickelson, with one win already this year, is also a top seed in his group, facing off against Pat Perez in his opening match.

Television will be all over the event, with a total of 27 hours of coverage. The Golf Channel will televise all five days, with morning coverage on weekends. NBC will broadcast afternoon weekend action, including the consolation and championship matches Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

As always, WorldGolf.com welcomes your comments.

New "destroyed" Lagoon Course at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club is short but exacting

The Lagoon Course at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club will test your shot-making skills and short game. It is beautifully bunkered and water is almost literally everywhere, sometimes in places you might not expect it. It requires precision and thought, Tim McDonald writes.

Gallery: The Lagoon Course at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club

Golf breaks abound along the I-95 "trail" in South Carolina

South Carolina golf isn't ALL about Myrtle Beach or Charleston or Kiawah Island. In fact, if you're traveling on Interstate-95 and want to break up the trip by playing a little golf, those places are relatively out of the way. Here are some courses right off I-95 - none of them more than 5 miles off the interstate - where you can tee it up and be back on the road in a minimum of time.

Also: Read the latest course reviews from WorldGolf.com readers

During NCAA basketball tournament, great golf and March Madness merge in Vegas

What do you get by combining the NCAA basketball tournament, sports books, and golf packages that include tee times on great Las Vegas golf courses like Red Rock C.C., SilverStone Golf Club and Bali Hai? March Madness, Vegas style!

Also: Hot Las Vegas golf vacation packages!

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