Tiger Woods, seeded 13th, will square off with No. 4 Rory McIlroy in the feature match as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play moves to sudden death in the round of 16 on Saturday.
Woods (2-1), who has won the match play event three times among his record 18 WGC titles, rallied from 2 down after eight holes by winning four straight early on the back nine to beat No. 18 Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA, 4 and 2, at Austin Country Club www.austincountryclub.com in Austin, Texas.
“I was fortunate enough to win, but I needed two things to happen and Aaron (Wise) won his match against Sneds (Brandt Snedeker) to give me the opportunity to move on,” said Woods, who highlighted his victory with an 82-yard hole-out for eagle on the 13th hole. “I get Rory tomorrow and I’ll be ready.
“Patrick got a bad break on 9 when his ball rolled into the lake, so I got a free hole there to get some momentum, and I made a big putt at 11 to carry it on. I was trying to get close to halve the (14th) hole, but then my ball falls in, so I’ll take it.”
No. 61 Wise took care of No. 44 Snedeker, 6 and 4.
McIlroy, coming off his victory two weeks ago in The Players Championship, rolled through his group with a 3-0 record by polishing off No. 32 Matthew Fitzpatrick of England, 4 and 3.
Rory never looked back after taking the lead with a 10-foot birdie putt on the second hole.
“Am I peaking?” asked McIlroy, the 2015 WGC-Match Play winner who finished in the top six in each of his last six tournaments. “I feel like pretty much all of this year, it’s been close to what I would think is some of my best golf.
“I felt like I needed to go out and put my foot down early (against Fitzpatrick), and that’s what I did. I’m confident and comfortable right now, happy with my game. I have to carry it over into tomorrow.
“I have to play my game and not look at what Tiger is doing, until maybe near the end.”
In another top match, No. 7 Francesco Molinari of Italy will take on No. 10 Paul Casey of England.
Molinari (3-0), a European hero in the Ryder Cup last year, got past No. 21 Webb Simpson, 2 and 1, by winning two straight holes after they were even through 12, while Casey (2-0-1) knocked off No. 25 Cameron Smith of Australia, 4 and 3, continuing to play well after winning the Valspar Championship last week.
With No. 1 Dustin Johnson going 1-2, No. 2 Justin Rose (2-0-1) of England is the highest-seeded player to advance, holding off No. 22 Gary Woodland, 1 up, and he will meet No. 57 Kevin Na (2-1) of Diamond Bar, who defeated No. 38 Billy Horschel, 2 and 1.
In the only match between players with 2-0 records, No. 37 Henrik Stenson of Sweden, the 2007 champion, routed No. 52 Jim Furyk, 5 and 4, and will take on No. 50 Lucas Bjerregaard (2-0-1) of Denmark, who beat No. 33 Matt Wallace of England, 1 up.
No. 23 Matt Kuchar (2-0-1), who won this event in 2013, moved on by halving his match with No. 6 Jon Rahm of Spain and will play No. 35 Tyrrell Hatton (2-0-1) of England, who took down No. 62 Lee Westwood, also of England, 3 and 1.
No. 48 Kevin Kisner (2-1), last year’s runner-up, sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to oust match-play ace Ian Poulter of England and will meet No. 36 Haotong Li (2-1), who made a three-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win his group over No. 27 Alex Noren of Sweden.
No. 17 Marc Leishman of Australia (3-0) trounced No. 6 Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis, 5 and 4, and will face No. 19 Louis Ooosthuizen (2-1) of South Africa, 2 and 1, who beat No. 11 Tommy Fleetwood of England, 4 and 3.
No. 26 Sergio Garcia of Spain (2-1) lost to Patrick Reed, 2 and 1, but still won his group and will meet No. 40 Branden Grace (3-0) of South Africa, who got past No. 55 Chez Reavie, 2 and 1.
No. 15 Bubba Watson (1-2), the defending champion, prevented No. 28 Jordan Spieth from winning their group, 1 up, while No. 20 Phil Mickelson (1-2) handed two-time WGC-Match Play champion Jason Day his third straight defeat, 2 up.
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