AUSTIN (Texas) — Matt Kucharholds a place in our record book Tiger Woods. Equally satisfying Friday was getting a spot in Saturday’s WGC-Dell Technologies match play.
Kuchar had a great time at Austin Country Club, winning 7-and-6. Si Woo KimHe won his 36th match in tournament history, matching Woods’ record.
Kuchar stated, “I still find that hard to understand that I’m saying this, that I tied one his records,” “So, please, I’m enormously proud. There are 300 more records to go, I’m sure. It’s still a great feeling to be able to say that you tied Tiger with something.
The final session was all about making it to the knockout stage. A record number of top players survived.
Champion of defense Scottie Scheffler (1), Rory McIlroy (3), Patrick Cantlay (4), Max Homa(5) Xander Schauffele(6) won their groups. Since Match Play switched to group play, this is the highest number of seeds advancing since 2015.
McIlroy had no trouble against Keegan BradleyIn a rematch their Sunday singles match at the 2012 Ryder Cup Medinah.
Scheffler won his eighth consecutive match since last year. He lost the first two holes. Tom KimHe won four of the five remaining holes to win a 3-and-2 victory. Scheffler had also the chance to join Woods in establishing the record. Woods is currently the only player to win golf’s most fickle event twice in a row.
Scheffler stated, “I’m not thinking too much.” “I haven’t thought about last week once this week. I am glad that I was able to get through my group, and now I can focus on tomorrow.
Scheffler’s next challenge is J.T. Poston, one of 11 stroke play players who won all three matches.
This list includes J.J. SpaunSpaun, who played 46 holes in three days. Spaun’s toughest test was against Min Woo Lee. Spaun made four consecutive birdies to win the 2-and-1 match. He was at 1 with five holes remaining. He is the No. 61 seed, the lowest seed to advance.
“My caddie said, ‘Let’s birdie every hole starting on 14.’ Spaun, who is playing Schauffele next, said that it was a bit of… well, we did exactly that.
Some players were unable to complete their day because their opponents drew. Hideki YamayamaAfter being on the range for around 20 minutes, neck pain forced him to give up. Homa was then allowed to go on to the weekend.
Homa stated, “It’s nice to me — bogey free round.” “Would prefer to play, but I’ll accept it as a quasi win.”
The highest seed was the one that made it home. Jon Rahm. Even with Wednesday’s loss, he still had the ability to make it to the weekend if beat. Billy Horschel. Rahm, however, made double bogey on hole two and was left trailing the rest of the way.
He lost the match when Rahm crashed into the water on the par-3 eleventh to lose 4 points. He was well-positioned to win the 12th, but he accidentally put his wedge behind the ball in rough to the right of green and the ball rolled out of the divot. He was penalized by one shot and he won the hole with a par. Then he missed a birdie opportunity on the next.
Horschel, the Match Play winner two years ago, defeated him in 14 holes.
Cantlay, who lost in the playoff to Brian HarmanHe beat him two years ago with a short birdie putt at the 17th green to advance in Match Play. Schauffele, a newcomer to this weekend, rallied to beat Tom Hoge.
Mackenzie HughesAnd Kurt KitayamaThey were the only ones to lose matches on Wednesday and make the trip to the weekend. It wasn’t easy.
Hughes was killed Taylor MontgomeryHe was 6 and 4 and had to wait approximately two hours before he could face him in a sudden death playoff. Montgomery hit a big chunk into the trees on the first hole and Hughes won with a 5-foot birdie.
Kitayama participated in a three-way playoff. Tony FinauHe beat him 4 and 3 times. Adrian MeronkPoland. Finau was eliminated at the first playoff hole. Kitayama won the next one with a birdie putt of 20 feet.
Other group winners Jason Day, Sam Burns, Lucas Herbert Cameron YoungHe has 19 birdies this week and two eagles in his 48 holes.
Kuchar, 44, is the oldest player in the field and he is relying heavily on his experience. He won the 2013 championship match and lost in 2019. He reached the semifinals twice.
His first match was against 2010 and he won it. Anthony Kim.
Kuchar would not have been in the 64-man field had nine players not been eligible to sign with Saudi-funded LIV Golf. He didn’t know he was within Woods’ reach until he won his first match on Wednesday.
He had a chance at tying Woods, but he missed his 5-foot putt. He then lost his match by half. He said he thought about the record that night.
Kuchar stated that the tournament’s purpose is to win matches and that he wanted to win this match in order to advance to the 16s. “So that was my main focus. It is an incredible thing to be able to tie any Tiger’s record.
Kuchar’s needle is not only solid in match play but also among the most sharpen on tour. He claimed that he hasn’t yet sent Woods an email about tying the record.
He said, “Maybe tomorrow.”
