Tiger Woods took down fourth-seeded Rory McIlory before stumbling against No. 50 Lucas Bjerregaard on Saturday in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
No. 13 Woods, who has won the WGC-Match Play three times, beat McIlroy in the round of 16, 2 and 1, before lipping out a four-foot par putt on the last hole in the quarterfinals that allowed Bjerregaard to advance, 1 up, at Austin Country Club www.austincountryclub.com in Austin, Texas.
“We read it inside left, left center, and the putt went left,” said Woods, who has won a record 18 WGC titles. “I went back and hit it again and it did the same thing. Just one of those weird spots.
“Had a lot of difficult pins out there. It is match play and they’re going to put the pins on the difficult side, and they did. And we just have to hit good shots. … This one is going to sting for a few days.”
Woods had a 2-up lead after five holes, but the Dane hung in the match from there and finally pulled even with a 29-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole.
Both birdied No. 17 and seemed head to extra holes before Woods’ miss on the last hole.
“It’s a shame it had to end that way because it was a really good match,” said the 27-year-old Bjerregaard, who has won twice on the European Tour and defeated No. 37 Henrik Stenson of Sweden, the 2007 champion, in the morning. “Conditions were tough today and we both threw in a bunch of birdies at it.
“So it’s a shame it had to finish with a bogey. But obviously I’m happy to be standing on the winning side.”
In the semifinals on Sunday morning, Bjerregaard will play No. 23 Matt Kuchar, the 2013 champion, who turned back No. 26 Sergio Garcia of Spain, 2 up, in part because Garcia missed a careless, left-handed tap-in on the seventh hole before Kooch could concede it.
Kuchar was 3-up before Garcia won the 15th and 16th holes, but could not pull even.
“At the end of the day, I’m the one that made the mistake,” Garcia said.
In the other semifinal, No. 7 Francesco Molinari of Italy, a Ryder Cup hero for Europe last year, will meet No. 48 Kevin Kisner, loser to Bubba Watson in last year’s match-play final.
Molinari routed No. 10 Paul Casey of England, 5 and 4, in the round of 16 and then coasted again in the quarterfinals with a 6-and-5 victory over No. 57 Kevin Na of Diamond Bar.
“Kevin birdied the first and then after that I started birdieing hole after hole and just putted great,” said Molinari, who probably has played the best golf all week with a 5-0 record. “I hit the ball very well. It was really tough with the wind this afternoon, but I managed to adapt to the conditions very well.
“I played well again, like the other days. I was very good in keeping my head down and just keep working, keep trying to make birdies.”
Kisner rolled past No. 36 Haotong Li of China, 6 and 5, in the morning and then came from behind by winning the last three holes to take out No. 19 Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, 2 and 1.
Said Kisner: “He came out firing. He made a bunch of birdies and really putted well. I just kept plugging along, made some pars there when I needed to. My short game kind of bailed me out coming in.”
In the feature match in the morning, Woods was clinging to a 1-up lead over McIlroy before The Players champion from Northern Ireland made a mess of the 16th hole with a wedge in his hand after hitting a 395-yard drive.
Woods wrapped things up with a 13-foot par putt at No. 17, but couldn’t make a much shorter one to stay alive late in the day.
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