Accenture Match Play bracket: Jordan Spieth holes out, Bubba Watson closes in on sweet 16

The earliest second round matches at the WGC Accenture Match Play championship are getting on the back nine at Dove Mountain, and the best match so far is the duel between Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker. It’s surprising to see this match close, given that Fowler had missed three straight cuts prior to this week and Walker had three wins on the season for a dominating lead in the FedExCup standings. But perhaps Butch Harmon’s work with Fowler is starting to take shape. The defeat of Ian Poulter, who many consider the best match play golfer in the world, in the first round was the biggest shock of Wednesday. He’s now going toe-to-toe with the hottest player on Tour, trailing Walker 1-down through 12 holes.

The shot of the day so far comes from Jordan Spieth, who was all set to concede the third hole sitting in a green side bunker against Thomas Bjorn. But the 20-year-old decided to give a run from the sand trap, pulling the flag in the hopes of holing out. It was just a week ago on Thursday at Riviera that Spieth holed out for eagle from the fairway, and he repeated the hole-out action again at Dove Mountain. The par halved the hole, and left Bjorn in a state of incredulous amusement.

Spieth, of course, earned his first PGA Tour win at 19-years old largely thanks to a miraculous hole out from a bunker at the John Deere last July. This was not as dramatic, but it’s still a good way to deflate an opponent early on in a match. The Texan is 23 years younger than Bjorn, but he’s already 4-up through the first seven holes.

There’s no runaway match yet, but Bubba Watson looks to be on his way to closing out Jonas Blixt to become the first player in the sweet 16. Bubba, who snapped his winless streak on Sunday at Riviera, needs to avoid a similar gag that his opponent Mikko Ilonen, who held the same 3-up lead later on the back nine, had yesterday.

The most intriguing match of the day, Harris English vs. Rory McIlroy, is All Square through six holes. Here’s where the match board stands with one last pairing to tee off: