Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy advance in the World Match Play Championship
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy both advanced to the elimination round of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, with undefeated records.
American Scheffler defeated Tom Kim 3–2 to win his third straight match, top Group One, and advance to the round of 16.
Keegan Bradley, a member of Group Three, was defeated by third-ranked McIlroy 3–2.
Both Spanish world number two Jon Rahm and US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, though, are out.
Fitzpatrick was defeated 2–1 by Sahith Theegala in his crucial match, but ultimately it made little difference because J.J. Spaun defeated Min Woo Lee 2–1 to advance to the finals of Group 11 by winning his third straight match.
Rahm, who also needed to win his last match, saw his dreams dashed after falling behind Billy Horschel, the group two winner, 5&4.
While this was going on, former Open champion Shane Lowry defeated three-time major winner Jordan Spieth 2&1.
To force a play-off with the American in Group 12, Mackenzie Hughes of Canada crushed Taylor Montgomery 6&4 and went on to win, topping Spieth’s group.
Another player to finish the group stage with a perfect record was fourth-ranked Patrick Cantlay, who defeated Brian Harman 2&1 together with fellow American Max Homa.
The first player to qualify for the elimination round on Friday was Homa, who did so without firing a shot after Hideki Matsuyama was forced to retire due to a neck injury.
Matt Kuchar is poised to make history after defeating Kim Si-woo 7–6 to tie Tiger Woods for the most victories (36) in the competition’s history.
Tyrrell Hatton of England lost for the third time in a row, falling to Russell Henley 3&2, while Im Sung-jae defeated fellow countryman Tommy Fleetwood 4&3.
Results of the World Match Play
Match Play WGC-Dell Technologies’s previous 16 games
In re: Scottie Scheffler v. J.T. Poston
versus Matt Kuchar, Jason Day
“Max Homa versus Mackenzie Hughes”
vs Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay
Lucas Herbert will face Rory McIlroy.
J.J. Spaun versus Xander Schauffele
vs Billy Horschel, Cameron Young
Kurt Kitayama vs Andrew Putnam
