The 2012 season is well underway, but for me, it truly gets started today as the Accenture Match Play opens up at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain in Marana, AZ.

I’m a sucker for a bracket, and even though I failed to find an online league that lets you make picks and tracks the progress so I could open this up to a challenge, I’ll take the old school paper bracket anyway.

Instead of trying to take a few hours of really researching everything and making picks that will ultimately be horrible anyway, I decided to pick match ups I want to see as this tournament progresses. It’s probably better that way, as you all know my track record with picks is just about as good as every other expert out there.

Will Tiger triumph? Who will be the high-seed that makes a run? Is Sergio really playing up to his potential? Let’s get to it...

Round 1

Bobby Jones Division
Donald over Els; Dufner over Hanson; Choi over Stanley; Snedeker over Goosen; Scott over Rock; Wilson over Van Pelt; Furyk over Johnson (UPSET!); Molinari over Bjorn

Ben Hogan Division
Kaymer over Chalmers (Mario from the Heat??); Toms over Fowler; Kuchar over Byrd (struggled with this one); Watson over Crane; Stricker over Na; Baddeley over Oosthuizen; McDowel over Yang; Mahan over Johnson

Gary Player Division
McIlroy over Coetzee; Hansen over Kim; Garcia over Jiminez (really looking forward to this one); Bradley over Ogilvy; Day over Bello; Senden over Dyson; Schwartzel over Woodland; Poulter over Bae

Sam Snead Division
Westwood over Colsaerts; Jacobson over Karlsson; Clarke over Watney (UPSET!!); Woods over Fdez-Castano; Simpson over Manassero; Laird over Quiros; Haas over Ishikawa; Rose over Lawrie

Round 2

Bobby Jones Division
Donald over Dufner; Choi over Snedeker; Wilson over Scott; Furyk over Molinari

Ben Hogan Division
Kaymer over Toms; Watson over Kuchar; Stricker over Baddeley; Mahan over McDowell

Gary Player Division
McIlroy over Hansen; Garcia over Bradley; Day over Senden; Poulter over Schwartzel (say that 10x as fast as you can)

Sam Snead Division
Westwood over Jacobson; Woods over Clarke; Simpson over Laird; Haas over Rose

Round 3/Sweet 16

Bobby Jones Division
Choi over Donald; Furyk over Wilson

Ben Hogan Division
Watson over Kaymer; Mahan over Stricker

Gary Player Division
Garcia over McIlroy; Day over Poulter

San Snead Division
Woods over Westwood (am I really doing this again??); Haas over Simpson

Round 4/Elite 8

Bobby Jones Division
Choi over Furyk

Ben Hogan Division
Watson over Mahan

Gary Player Division
Garcia over Day

Sam Snead Division
Haas over Woods

Round 5/Final 4

Watson over Choi
For me, picking the Jones and Hogan divisions felt the toughest. A lot of the matchups seemed like the kind of decisions I would finally come to after hours of deliberation, but since I was just picking to get the matchups I hoped to see, I felt like I had to cut some really good golfers. Regardless, I like the way Watson is playing right now, but it’s difficult to ever pick against Choi because he always has something up his sleeve it seems.

Haas over Garcia
I wanted so badly to put Tiger in the Final Four so I could watch him square off against Garcia to see who could get more pissed off at themselves throughout the match if things were going poorly, but game recognize game and I had to put Haas in the Final Four and championship match. He won this past Sunday and is really coming into his own on the PGA Tour. 2012 is going to be a special year for him.

Championship

Haas over Watson
Like I said previously, I really think 2012 is the Year of Haas. He made huge strides in 2011 and so far it’s rolled over nicely for him in 2012. Watson’s game goes through crests and valleys and while I could see him winning this tournament, I just think Haas has a couple more birdies in him.