MATCH PLAY
Staff and Wire reports
First-round attendance Wednesday was 13,620 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain. That’s an increase from last year’s first round at The Gallery Golf Club, when there were 12,500 tickets sold.
Other tournament tidbits:
• A trend to remember for next year’s Accenture Match Play bracket pool: The better seed has won 19 of 32 first-round matches in seven of the past nine years, including Wednesday.
• Media credentials are up from last year, largely due to the interest in Tiger Woods’ comeback. There are 525 credentialed news people representing 187 news groups. There were 379 credentials for 128 outlets last year.
• As if losing to Davis Love III in 21 holes wasn’t painful enough, Henrik Stenson backed into a cholla cactus on the second extra hole during his second shot on the par-5, No. 2. As Stenson trudged back to the fairway, he had to pick a cluster of needles off his purple shirt. “I’ve got tweezers,” one fan called out.