keith Mitchell from the sand on the ninth hole during the first round of The Players Championship golf tournament Thursday, March 14, 2019, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Baylor School's impact on the PGA Tour will include a new accomplishment later this week when two former Red Raiders, Keith Mitchell and Luke List, vie in the World Golf Championships Dell Technologies Match Play event in Austin, Texas.
The 64-player field was determined strictly by the World Golf Rankings entering this past weekend's Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida. Mitchell is playing in the Dell Match Play for the first time in his young career, while List is making a second consecutive appearance.
"It's pretty cool for both Keith and I to be playing in a WGC with some of the best players in the world," List said Monday. "Obviously Keith has been playing some amazing golf and has a very bright future."
Mitchell is No. 58 in the world, which is the highest career ranking for the big-hitting 27-year-old. He was ranked outside the top 300 in January of 2018 and began 2019 with a ranking of No. 152.
Earlier this month, Mitchell won the Honda Classic by one stroke over Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka, and he followed that by tying for sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That two-week stretch enabled Mitchell to clinch invitations to all four major tournaments this year and vaulted him into the Dell Match Play field.
"I don't want to say this wasn't on my radar, because we are always trying to get into these events," Mitchell said Monday, "but as far as my planning at the beginning of the year, this definitely wasn't on it. I was more concerned about playing in the opposite-field event in the Dominican Republic, because I finished second in that last year."
The two other Baylor alumni on the PGA Tour, Harris English and Stephan Jaeger, will be in the Dominican Republic this week for the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. English tied for fifth in last year's event.
Mitchell's surge the last several weeks is similar to what List, another one of the sport's longest drivers, experienced a year ago. List finished second at last year's Honda Classic, losing a playoff to Justin Thomas, and finished third at last April's RBC Heritage to earn a career-best world ranking of No. 53.
The 34-year-old List was ranked 69th in the world entering last year's Dell Match Play but got the 64th and final spot when Fowler, Koepka, Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Henrik Stenson elected to sit out the competition. List was ranked No. 66 last week and received the 64th spot again when Fowler and Scott decided to bypass this event.
Fowler and Scott have sat out the past three Dell Match Play tournaments.
"With my position in the field, I know I have nothing to lose by going out and playing aggressive and trying to upset some guys," List said.
The Dell Match Play contains 16 four-player pools, with the round-robin competition beginning Wednesday and running through Friday. The 16 pool winners then will compete Saturday and Sunday in an elimination bracket similar to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament.
Mitchell and List are the No. 4 seeds in their respective pools, with Mitchell in a pool headlined by Tony Finau and also containing Ian Poulter and Kevin Kisner. List is in a pool topped by Rory McIlroy and also including Matthew Fitzpatrick and Justin Harding.
List lost to Thomas, Francesco Molinari and Patton Kizzire last year, so both Baylor graduates are seeking to taste Dell Match Play success for the first time.
"I haven't competed in a match-play tournament since I was at Baylor with Coach (King) Oehmig," Mitchell said, "so this format will definitely be a little foreign for me. It is much more thoughtful than stroke play, because you can change your strategy on a hole depending on what your competitor is doing.
"I'm really looking forward to every part of it and wish we had more events like it, but I'm not looking forward to conceding any putts to guys I'm trying to beat. I don't care how short they are."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.