Match recaps from Friday: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

The World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play is back. Friday’s third round is the third of three days of group play. After Friday, the player with the best record in each of the 16 four-man pools will advance to knockout play (ties of two or more players will be broken via sudden-death playoff). Two rounds apiece will be played Saturday and Sunday to crown a champion. This is the only PGA TOUR event where players go mano-a-mano, and Austin Country Club is a perfect site for this format thanks to its offering of risk-reward holes. Upon the conclusion on Friday’s 32 matches and any sudden-death playoffs, 16 players will advance to weekend competition, where knockout play will commence Saturday morning in the Round of 16. As each group concludes its competition, this file will be updated to keep you apprised of the action from the TOUR’s only match play event. Return here often to learn about the latest upsets, comebacks and nail-biting finishes. FRIDAY RECAPS (Click here for live scores) (Click here for scenarios into Friday) GROUP 5 SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (2-1-0) def. MATT FITZPATRICK (2-1-0), 5 and 4 Scheffler, a Match Play finalist in his debut a year ago, needed to win to stay alive in his group and got off to the ideal start, jumping out to a 3-up advantage after six holes. He nearly aced the par-3 fourth (3 feet) and won the sixth when Fitzpatrick tugged a drive left, next to an out-of-bounds fence. He scrambled for par, but Scheffler got up-and-down for birdie. A key turnabout came at the ninth: Fitzpatrick hit his approach to 11 feet, looking to cut into Scheffler’s 3-up lead. Scheffler was 29 feet away, facing a downhill, right-to-left putt. He rolled it in, and Fitzpatrick missed, Scheffler stretching his cushion to 4 up. Scheffler ended the match with birdies at the 13th and 14th holes. Both players finished group play at 2-1-0. Scheffler: “I didn’t really make any mistakes. I took advantage of a few mistakes he made early. He got a really bad break on our second hole (which Scheffler won with a par), and after that I started cruising and played some good golf. NOTE: A playoff between Fitzpatrick and Scheffler to decide a Group 5 winner is pending. IAN POULTER (1-2-0) def. TOMMY FLEETWOOD (1-2-0), 4 and 3 After two opening losses, match play’s Postman (he always delivers) broke through on Friday, making sure he did not exit Austin without at least one match victory. Poulter defeated his fellow Englishman pretty handily, never trailing in the match. Leading 1 up through four holes, Poulter went on a bit of a tear, starting the run with a pitch-in for eagle from behind the front right bunker at the 342-yard fifth hole. He birdied the par-5 sixth, won the eighth with a par, and when he rolled in a 16-foot birdie at the ninth, he was 4 up. Fleetwood made a nice birdie at the par-3 11th, but it was just a matter of time until Poulter closed the match out. He did so with his sixth consecutive par, winning the 15th hole. Poulter is 33-19-0 in his career at the Match Play, defeating Paul Casey for the title in 2010. GROUP 12 BILLY HORSCHEL ADVANCES BILLY HORSCHEL (2-0-1) tied THOMAS PIETERS (1-1-1) The first match out on the day and it was beautifully played from beginning to end. Yet Pieters walked off the 18th green heated, even though he made five birdies and no bogeys during the epic duel. That’s because Pieters was 2 up with two holes remaining and Horschel, who made six birdies in the match, made birdies on 17 and 18 to win the holes and tie the match overall. On the 17th green, Pieters had already made par and Horschel was standing over a birdie putt from 13 feet. He needed to make, or he’d have lost the match and would’ve been heading to a playoff to determine who would advance from the group. But the defending WGC-Dell Match Play champion calmly poured in the putt, then got up and down for birdie from 30 yards short of the 18th green, won the hole, tied the match and is moving on. Pieters missed a birdie attempt from outside 6 feet on the last hole that would’ve given him the victory. Pieters was 2 up after three holes and made birdies on the second, third and fourth holes. Horschel tied the match after birdie on the ninth hole, then Pieters went to 1-up on 13 when Horschel drove the ball into the water. Birdie on the par-5 16th from Pieters gave him the 2-up advantage before Horschel closed with the heroic finish to be able to continue his Match Play title defense. “I hung in there,” Horschel said. “I hit some really quality shots. Some of them didn’t turn out. I made some putts, which was nice to see. Being 2 down with two to go and knowing all I needed was a half to move on to Round of 16, that’s a real confidence boost to birdie the last two to get through.” TOM HOGE (0-2-1) tied MIN WOO LEE (1-1-1) Hoge was already eliminated before the match but still gave it a valiant effort, making birdie on the last hole to squeeze out a tie after being winless in his previous two matches. Hoge, who told reporters earlier in the week that he hadn’t played in a competitive match play event for 11 years, jumped out to an early 1-up lead, but Lee was 1 up at the turn. Lee went 2 up with a birdie on the 12th hole, but Hoge won the 13th with a par. Lee remained 1 up until the final hole, where he made a mess of it and drove it wildly left off the tee. That allowed Hoge to cruise, blasting a 342-yard drive and hit an approach to 7 feet to win the hole and tie the match. Lee had a chance to advance to the Round of 16 before the match started, but when Billy Horschel birdied the last two holes to tie his match against Thomas Pieters, Lee was officially eliminated before his match with Hoge ended. GROUP 13 SI WOO KIM (2-1-0) def. CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT (0-3-0), 6 and 4 This match was lopsided from the opening tee shot and Kim was 5 up after seven holes. Bezuidenhout was eliminated before the match even started and didn’t put up much of a fight. He conceded the first hole, then Kim birdied the fourth, sixth and seventh holes, eagled the fifth hole and the match was quickly out of hand. Bezuidenhout made birdie on the 11th to cut into the lead, but Kim birdied No. 12 to move back to 5 up and then closed the match out on the 14th hole, not needing to play the final four. Bezuidenhout was winless on the week. With the match being over so quickly, Kim had to sit and wait to learn his fate. If Daniel Berger defeats Tyrrell Hatton, there will be a three-man playoff between Kim, Berger and Hatton. If Hatton wins or ties his match with Berger, Hatton advances.

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