The 2018 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play field consists of the top 64 eligible and available players to compete this week at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. However, how the 64 players in the final field qualified and their seeding in the tournament was determined based off two different versions of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The initial field was based off the Official World Golf Ranking after the conclusion of the Valspar Championship, meaning the top 64 eligible players on the list qualified for the field, and the alternates (Julian Suri, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker) were determined based on that ranking as well. With five players skipping or unable to compete -- Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott -- the field went down to No. 69 that week, Luke List, to complete the field.
However, the seeding of the 64 players in the field is determined on the Official World Golf Ranking as of the week of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. That means players could gain or lose seeding based on their performance the subsequent week, including at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Then, when Joost Luiten withdrew on Monday, that meant last week's world No. 70, Julian Suri, got into the field despite being ranked No. 72 in the world this week.
So, why does seeding matter? It determines the 16-player pools from which players can be drawn to fill out each round-robin group for the first three days of the tournament. The top 16 seeds anchor each of 16 groups, with players seeded 17th-32nd in the field going into a Pool B, players seeded 33rd-48th going into Pool C and the remaining players going into Pool D. Each round-robin group is determined at random, with player seed numbers drawn from lottery-style machines to pick a B, C and D player to round out each four-player group. Each player in the group faces each other in a round-robin format to determine group champions, who advance to a bracket-style, single-elimination tournament based on their group number (Group 1 winner vs. Group 16 winner, etc.).
2018 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play rankings
Current Official World Golf Ranking in parentheses
- 1. Dustin Johnson (1)
- 2. Justin Thomas (2)
- 3. Jon Rahm (3)
- 4. Jordan Spieth (4)
- 5. Hideki Matsuyama (6)
- 6. Rory McIlroy (7)
- 7. Sergio Garcia (10)
- 8. Jason Day (11)
- 9. Tommy Fleetwood (12)
- 10. Paul Casey (13)
- 11. Marc Leishman (15)
- 12. Tyrrell Hatton (16)
- 13. Alex Noren (17)
- 14. Phil Mickelson (18)
- 15. Pat Perez (19)
- 16. Matt Kuchar (20)
- 17. Rafael Cabrera Bello (21)
- 18. Brian Harman (22)
- 19. Patrick Reed (23)
- 20. Xander Schauffele (24)
- 21. Francesco Molinari (25)
- 22. Charley Hoffman (26)
- 23. Branden Grace (27)
- 24. Gary Woodland (28)
- 25. Louis Oosthuizen (29)
- 26. Daniel Berger (30)
- 27. Ross Fisher (31)
- 28. Kiradech Aphibarnrat (32)
- 29. Tony Finau (33)
- 30. Patrick Cantlay (34)
- 31. Matthew Fitzpatrick (35)
- 32. Kevin Kisner (36)
- 33. Kevin Chappell (37)
- 34. Li Haotong (38)
- 35. Bubba Watson (39)
- 36. Brendan Steele (40)
- 37. Webb Simpson (41)
- 38. Adam Hadwin (42)
- 39. Thomas Pieters (43)
- 40. Satoshi Kodaira (44)
- 41. Jason Dufner (45)
- 42. Dylan Frittelli (45)
- 43. Chez Reavie (47)
- 44. Jhonattan Vegas (48)
- 45. Kyle Stanley (49)
- 46. Cameron Smith (50)
- 47. Yuta Ikeda (51)
- 48. Patton Kizzire (52)
- 49. Charl Schwartzel (53)
- 50. Siwoo Kim (54)
- 51. Russell Henley (55)
- 52. Bernd Wiesberger (56)
- 53. Yusaku Miyazato (57)
- 54. Zach Johnson (58)
- 55. Alexander Levy (60)
- 56. James Hahn (62)
- 57. Peter Uihlein (63)
- 58. Ian Poulter (64)
- 59. Charles Howell III (65)
- 60. Luke List (67)
- 61. Kevin Na (68)
- 62. Shubhankar Sharma (69)
- 63. Keegan Bradley (70)
- 64. Julian Suri (72)
2018 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play groups
- Group 1: (1) Dustin Johnson, (32) Kevin Kisner, (38) Adam Hadwin, (52) Bernd Wiesberger
- Group 2: (2) Justin Thomas, (21) Francesco Molinari, (48) Patton Kizzire, (60) Luke List
- Group 3: (3) Jon Rahm, (28) Kiradech Aphibarnrat, (43) Chez Reavie, (63) Keegan Bradley
- Group 4: (4) Jordan Spieth, (19) Patrick Reed, (34) Haotong Li, (49) Charl Schwartzel
- Group 5: (5) Hideki Matsuyama, (30) Patrick Cantlay, (46) Cameron Smith, (53) Yusaku Miyazato
- Group 6: (6) Rory McIlroy, (18) Brian Harman, (44) Jhonattan Vegas, (51) Peter Uihlein
- Group 7: (7) Sergio Garcia, (20) Xander Schauffele, (41) Dylan Frittelli, (62) Shubankhar Sharma
- Group 8: (8) Jason Day, (25) Louis Oosthuizen, (42) Jason Dufner, (56) James Hahn
- Group 9: (9) Tommy Fleetwood, (26) Daniel Berger, (33) Kevin Chappell, (58) Ian Poulter
- Group 10: (10) Paul Casey, (31) Matthew Fitzpatrick, (45) Kyle Stanley, (51) Russell Henley
- Group 11: (11) Marc Leishman, (23) Branden Grace, (35) Bubba Watson, (64) Julian Suri
- Group 12: (12) Tyrrell Hatton, (22) Charley Hoffman, (36) Brendan Steele, (55) Alexander Levy
- Group 13: (13) Alex Noren, (29) Tony Finau, (39) Thomas Pieters, (61) Kevin Na
- Group 14: (14) Phil Mickelson, (17) Rafael Cabrera-Bello, (40) Sotashi Kodaira, (59) Charles Howell III
- Group 15: (15) Pat Perez, (24) Gary Woodland, (37) Webb Simpson, (50) Si Woo Kim
- Group 16: (16) Matt Kuchar, (27) Ross Fisher, (47) Yuta Ikeda, (54) Zach Johnson
