Rory McIlroy had each cause to like the lengthy ball Thursday.
Taken to the 18th gap within the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, McIlroy unleashed the shot of the event. He smashed a drive on the 375-yard closing gap so magnificently that it pitched on the inexperienced and rolled out to simply inside 4 ft.
That all however clinched his 2-up victory over Denny McCarthy as McIlroy led a parade of high seeds into the ultimate spherical of group play at Austin Country Club.
“It was good,” McIlroy mentioned with a smile, which was like saying Michelangelo did a great job on the Sistine Chapel.
He capped a rally from 3 down by means of six holes. McIlroy didn’t take his first lead within the match till one other energy present — a giant drive into the wind on the par-5 sixteenth to arrange a two-putt birdie from 18 ft.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who needed to make a 12-footer on the final gap to win his first match, had seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the course of his match in opposition to Alex Noren for a 5-and-4 victory.
Patrick Cantlay (4), Max Homa (5) and Xander Schauffele (6) additionally gained their matches as 4 of the highest six seeds took a 2-0 report into Friday in a bid to win their group and advance to the knockout stage on the weekend.
The exception was Jon Rahm, who recovered from his opening spherical loss by driving the inexperienced on the par-4 fifth on his solution to a 4-and-3 victory over Keith Mitchell. That means Rahm profitable his group is in his arms, as Rickie Fowler misplaced his match.
It capped one other blustery day of momentum shifts and unsure outcomes, typical of this format that’s being performed for the final time.
Matt Kuchar was on the cusp of tying Tiger Woods’ event report of 36 wins, however then he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the final gap and needed to accept a halve with Chris Kirk.
Cameron Young by no means led in his match in opposition to Corey Conners — they halved 14 of the primary 15 holes — till the rising American star made eagle on the par-5 sixteenth, holed a 12-foot birdie on the seventeenth to take his first lead after which made a wild scramble for par to win.
“Obviously it’s windy and difficult today but there’s enough holes you should still make four, five or six birdies. It’s just keeping myself patient knowing that those are probably coming,” Young mentioned. “I would have liked them to be a little bit earlier, but I’ll take them right where they were.”
The McIlroy drive was the topper, although.
“I was imagining the driver was going to land into the upslope and sort of stay 10, 20 yards short,” McIlroy mentioned. “I didn’t imagine I could fly it on the green.”
As for the place it charges, McIlroy laughed.
“I was 1 up and there’s certainly a lot of other ways to make birdie on that hole without having to do that,” he mentioned. “But yeah, it was a great swing and it was great time to do it.”
It got here throughout every week by which McIlroy mentioned to “No Laying Up” that he favored the USGA and R&A proposal to roll again the space golf balls journey for elite competitors. The governing our bodies selected to not handle the motive force.
“I think you’re gonna see people with more well-rounded games succeed easier than what the game has become, which is a bit bomb-and-gouge over these last few years,” he mentioned.
This was extra bomb-and-putt, and it was a magnificence.
The shot was just like Robert MacIntyre driving the 18th inexperienced at Austin Country Club two years in the past when he wanted to win the ultimate gap to win his group, and it knocked out top-seeded Dustin Johnson.
McIlroy’s work isn’t executed, and not one of the high seeds might be assured to advancing even with out having misplaced a match.
Two gamers can converse from expertise. Cantlay two years in the past was 2-0 when he misplaced on the third day after which confronted a sudden-death playoff in opposition to Brian Harman — whom he had overwhelmed on the primary day — and misplaced with a three-putt on the second additional gap.
Lucas Herbert was in the identical place final yr when he misplaced to Takumi Kanaya after which confronted him in a playoff, four-putting the primary inexperienced.
This is not any time to get comfy.
“Comfort is the devil in golf,” Herbert mentioned. “As much as it is a great position to be 2-0, I got work to do tomorrow.”
Twenty gamers face the worst day as a result of they’ve been eradicated, a bunch that features Will Zalatoris, the No. 7 seed, and eighth-seeded Viktor Hovland.
Jordan Spieth will want some assist. A crowd favourite in Austin, the place he performed for the Longhorns for 3 semesters, Spieth was 1 up over PGA Tour rookie Taylor Montgomery when he drove into the water and misplaced the thirteenth, went lengthy of the 14th inexperienced and missed a brief par putt and Montgomery made a 10-foot birdie on the fifteenth to grab management.
Montgomery gained on the seventeenth gap to go 2-0. Spieth would wish to beat Shane Lowry and have Mackenzie Hughes beat Montgomery to have an opportunity.
Montgomery by no means fared properly in match play when he was at UNLV, although he did simply high-quality in loads of cash video games at Shadow Creek with a couple of excessive rollers.
With facet bets, he recalled having a couple of putts value $10,000 or $15,000. He didn’t miss.
“That was a good thing, too, because that was everything in my bank account,” he mentioned.
As for Keegan Bradley, he had a 6-and-5 win which was noteworthy for a few causes. It was his first win in Match Play since 2012 — what adopted have been 9 losses and 7 halves — and he solely must win Friday to win his group.
Next up is McIlroy, who beat Bradley within the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012 when Europe pulled off a shocking comeback. McIlroy almost missed his tee time that day as a result of he mentioned he forgot Chicago was within the Central time zone. So is Austin.
“Listen, I know I got a really tough match. It’s Rory McIlroy,” Bradley mentioned “But I’m playing well, too, so I’m going to go out there and try to win the match.”