Australia’s Jason Day has fallen out of the WGC Match Play Championships in the quarter-finals after an inspired comeback from top-ranked defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
“It was a tough match, Jason came out of the gates really hot,” Scheffler said after his
2&1 victory.
Scheffler won three of the last four holes in a one-up rollercoaster previous round victory over JT Poston, and his afternoon encounter with Day was even better.
The Australian – 2014 and 2016 winner of the tournament – was three up through seven holes after a wild start saw him birdie the first hole, give back the shot on the third with a bogey as Scheffler birdied, before a stunning run from the fourth hole. Day went birdie-birdie-eagle to surge clear of the American and reigning Masters champion.
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But Day bogeyed to eighth, while Scheffler birdied the ninth. On the back nine, Scheffler – who also won the Players Championship earlier this month, kicked clear with birdies on the 12th and 13th to go one up. A bogey for Day on the par-four 14th saw him enter the final holes needing something special. But while he birdied the next three consecutive holes, Scheffler did too! The pair shook hands after the 17th hole, with Scheffler now set to face fellow American and his good friend Sam Burns.
Elsewhere, Cam Young enjoyed one of the luckiest breaks you’ll ever see in a near ace.
MORE TO COME
Unlucky Scott falters at WGC Match Play | 01:31
ROUND OF 16 RESULTS
Earlier, Rory McIlroy outdueled Australian Lucas Herbert in the round of 16 at Austin Country Club in Texas, where the last eight were set to play Saturday afternoon.
Four-time major winner McIlroy outlasted Herbert 2 up to book a last-eight date against Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, the US sixth seed who beat J.J. Spaun 3&2.
Scheffler won three of the first five holes with birdies for a 2-up edge, stumbled 2 down with a bogey at the par-5 12th but then battled back to win 15 and the par-3 17th to level the match before advancing when Poston missed a six-foot par putt at 18.
“Too many mental errors,” Scheffler said. “I’ve done a great job at this tournament over the years of staying patient and not trying to force things.
“He put the pressure on me today and I let it get the best of me but I finished strong and was able to come out with a win.”
Scheffler’s opponent for a berth in Sunday’s semi-finals was Australian Jason Day, the 2014 and 2016 winner.
Day edged American Matt Kuchar 1 up. Kuchar, who won the 2013 Match Play, was trying to break the event match record of 36 wins he shares with Tiger Woods.
“He was tough,” Day said. “I just didn’t want to be the guy that I lost to Matt and he beat Tiger’s record.”
Day, who never trailed, sank a two-putt birdie from 15 feet to win the par-5 16th then battled Kuchar even on the last two holes.
McIlroy, the 2015 Match Play winner from Northern Ireland, never trailed in dispatching Herbert but struggled to finish off the Australian, whose long birdie putts at the par-5 16th and par-3 17th pushed McIlroy to the 18th hole.
“I got off to a really good start, but every time I hit it in close, he’d answer me with a birdie,” said McIlroy. “It was really back and forth. On that back nine I had to hole some nice putts coming in there to keep my nose in front.”
American 19th seed Kurt Kitayama, who won three weeks ago at Bay Hill, took the first two and last two holes in a 6&5 rout of countryman Andrew Putnam.
Next for Kitayama is last year’s British Open runner-up Cam Young, who beat 2021 WGC Match Play winner Billy Horschel 5&4 and seeks his first PGA victory.
US 13th seed Sam Burns, who ousted fourth seed Patrick Cantlay 2&1 to extend his WGC Match Play debut, will next play Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes, who upset fifth seed Max Homa 3&2.
Burns sank a birdie putt from just inside eight feet at the par-3 17th to eliminate Cantlay.
“We had a great match,” he said. “I came out on the good side. Overall, a good match.” Homa never pulled level with Hughes after falling 2 down with bogeys at the par-5 sixth and par-3 seventh.
“Max kept the pressure on me,” said Hughes. “My job was not to give him any holes. You felt like if you kept grinding out holes things were going to work out good.”