26 March 2021: Korea’s Sungjae Im suffered a 2 & 1 defeat to Presidents Cup International teammate Marc Leishman at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play on Thursday but remained in the chase to progress into the next round.
The 22-year-old Im, who beat Russell Henley in his opening match, fought gallantly against his Australian opponent but fell short at the end after losing holes 15 and 16. With Henley defeating Frenchman Victor Perez 4 & 3 in the other Group 16 match, all four players will enter Friday’s session with identical 1-1-0 records and leaving the group delicately poised.
Si Woo Kim, who tied his opening match with Tommy Fleetwood on Wednesday, suffered a 2 & 1 defeat at the hands of Bryson DeChambeau. His career sixth defeat in the Match Play effectively ends his hopes of progressing beyond the group stage at Austin Country Club.
Likewise, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama’s second defeat of the week, this time a 1-up loss to Brian Harman for his career 10th defeat in the event, means he will not be able to progress into the next round. He plays Patrick Cantlay on Friday, with the American World No. 10 and reigning ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP winner favoured to move into the Fourth Round after notching wins over Harman and Carlos Ortiz in Group 10.
Making his debut in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Im’s encounter with Leishman was back and forth. Each time the Aussie would win a hole, he answered immediately. Leishman birdied the first, Im won the second; Leishman birdied the sixth, and Im countered with a birdie at the 213-yard seventh with the match tied through 14 holes. Leishman then won the 15th hole with a par and was conceded the par-5 16th when Im endured pitching issues left of the green. A tee shot 27 feet below the hole at 17 gave Leishman two putts for the win.
Leishman, a five-time PGA TOUR winner, said: “It was a competitive match, a friendly match. Hopefully, I can bring some better golf and come out with a win. I need to win tomorrow. Certainly I haven’t had my best stuff over the last couple days, but had some good shots there coming in, nice to get a win and, yeah, like I say, got a chance, just need to play good.”
Kim, whose best finish in the Match Play was T9 in 2018, made seven birdies in his defeat to DeChambeau, the current FedExCup points leader. The 25-year-old Korean, who won his third TOUR title in January, led 1-up through 13 holes but DeChambeau poured in a 26-footer for birdie to tie the match, made a nice par save at 15 to go 1-up, and made a matching birdie from the right greenside bunker at 16 to keep the pressure on. When Kim’s tee shot spun into a penalty area left of the 17th green, his hopes all but ended.
DeChambeau said: “It was kind of a weird day for me. I made a lot of birdies, for sure, but just a lot of weird scenarios. I felt like I was playing good golf and there were just things that were occurring that I couldn’t explain. I hit a good drive on 12 and got right up in the face of the bunker … I don’t know, a weird day.”
Matsuyama made a late run at Harman, making birdies at 15 and 16 to push the match to the 18th hole. There, the Japanese star hit his approach inside of five feet; Harman answered with a 50-yard flop shot over a front bunker that stopped inside Matsuyama’s ball. Matsuyama made his putt, forcing Harman to make his for the win.
Reigning FedExCup champion and No. 1 seed Dustin Johnson eagles the par-5 16th and birdies the par-3 17th on his way to a tie with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre
Defending champion Kevin Kisner defeats Justin Thomas, 2 and 1; at 2-0-0 for the week, Kisner has now won his last eight matches in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which represents the longest current streak (Tiger Woods owns the tournament record with 13)
Two of the 22 players making their first appearance at the event are undefeated through two rounds of group play: Mackenzie Hughes (48) and Dylan Frittelli (64)
Robert MacIntyre grew up playing the rough-and-tumble Scottish sport of shinty, and he had more than enough fight to give Dustin Johnson all he could handle Thursday in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Johnson had to rally late with an eagle and a clutch birdie to send the match to the final hole, where both players missed birdie chances and settled for a tie.
Neither the world’s No. 1 player nor the 24-year-old from the tiny town of Oban were sure what to make of it.
“It was a tough match,” Johnson said. “Ended up making a really good halve, and definitely pleased with it.”
MacIntyre, who trailed for most of the front nine at Austin Country Club and led for most of the back nine, walked away with a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment.
Ultimately, both remained in position to advance out of their group to the weekend knockout stage.
“Obviously, I was dying to win that match,” MacIntyre said. “I was in such a great position to do it. But he threw everything at me, and I can be proud of finishing there all square. Inside I’m a little disappointed not to win. But once we walk away from here and drive back to the house, it’s going to be, ‘You know what? I can compete with these best guys on the planet.”
Some of the best in the planet were eliminated on the second day of round-robin group play.
Justin Thomas, the No. 2 seed, fell behind big on the front nine for the second straight day and couldn’t catch up. Thomas made a strong rally against defending champion Kevin Kisner before losing on the 17th hole.
Tyrrell Hatton delivered more highlights — not so much with a shot, but the artful tossing of a club and the sarcastic clapping of his hands — in losing to Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard, whose American home is in Austin, won his second match and thus eliminated Hatton, the No. 8 seed.
Other top seeds in the 16 groups who have no chance to move on were PGA champion Collin Morikawa (4), Tony Finau (12) and Viktor Hovland of Norway (13). In all, 18 players had matches Friday with nothing on the line.
Friday is the final day for groups, and Kisner’s victory set up a win-or-go-home match against Kuchar, a past Match Play champion who beat Thomas on the first day and outlasted Louis Oosthuizen on Thursday.
Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer also square off Friday after both won went to 2-0 in their group. Rahm had a harder time than he imagined with The Open champion Shane Lowry, who was 3 down with three holes to play when the Irishman went birdie-birdie to send it to the 18th, and then showed off those great hands with a pitch from under a tree to 12 feet.
He missed the birdie putt and Rahm, who would have had a putt from the same range, smiled a sigh of relief.
“He made a heck of a run at the end, man,” Rahm said.
It’s hard to find a true David vs. Goliath at this level of golf, not with the top 64 players available from the world ranking. MacIntyre, trying to nail down a spot in his first Masters, worked his way up to No. 44 with his first victory on the European Tour last fall and a close call in Dubai a few months later.
He briefly stepped away from golf to return to shinty, a sport that resembles a mix of field hockey and rugby that MacIntyre often says is “in my blood,” not to mention whatever blood he spills on the pitch.
He knew what he faced against Johnson and was up for it.
MacIntyre birdied the ninth, made a 25-foot birdie on the 10th to take his first lead, and then Johnson put his tee shot in the water on the 11th. MacIntyre returned to a 2-up lead when Johnson made bogey on the 14th, and the Scot looked poised to pull of a stunner.
But the Scot left himself in a tough spot on the par-5 16th and could only manage par. Johnson was 10 feet away for eagle, and MacIntyre still had him putt it (Johnson made it). The turning point came on the par-3 17th, a most dangerous par 3 for players hitting no more than wedge. Johnson poured in an 18-footer to level the match.
“He holed putts when he had to hole putts,” MacIntyre said. “He does that to win numerous majors.”
In other matches:
— Patrick Cantlay played another superb round and still had to go the distance, this time making seven birdies in a 1-up victory over Carlos Ortiz. Cantlay is the equivalent of 15-under par through 36 holes.
— Dylan Frittelli, the South African who hit the winning shot for Texas when the Longhorns won the NCAA title in 2012, has required only 29 holes to win both his matches.
— Ian Poulter had a 3-up lead with three to play when he was forced to the 18th hole by Cameron Smith, who stuffed his approach into 6 feet. No matter. Poulter delivered a 15-foot birdie putt to win a second straight match. Rory McIlroy won easily, but now needs Poulter to lose Friday to have any chance of advancing.
Ten players are undefeated through two rounds of group play (by seed): Jon Rahm (3), Patrick Cantlay (10), Ryan Palmer (24), Abraham Ancer (27), Kevin Kisner (34), Sergio Garcia (39), Mackenzie Hughes (48), Matt Kuchar (52), Ian Poulter (60) and Dylan Frittelli (64).
Group Format
The 64-player field is divided into 16 four-player groups for round robin competition
Players receive one point for a win in group play and half a point for a tie
The player in each group with the highest point total at the end of group play advances to the 16-player, single-elimination matches; in the event two or more players are tied for the lead in their group following group play, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff starting on No. 1
Saturday morning: Round of 16; Saturday afternoon: Quarterfinals; Sunday morning: Semifinals; Sunday afternoon: Championship Match and Consolation Match
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