Jason Kokrak wins at THE CJ CUP

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AUSTIN, Texas — Scottie Scheffler delivered all the right shots Saturday and moved into the semifinals of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play by taking down Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm. Scheffler was the highest seed remaining at No. 30, which is just a number the way he handled Austin Country Club against two of Europe’s best in this format. RELATED: Bracket, Scoring | Things you may have missed, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Day 4 The 24-year-old Texan made 15 birdies in the 31 holes required to get through his two matches. “Being able to take down those two guys, and Xander (Schauffele) in the final match on Friday, like I said before, I think my game’s trending in the right direction this week,” Scheffler said. He advances to a final day that features three Americans and one European — Victor Perez of France, who made short work of Sergio Garcia in their quarterfinal match. Matt Kuchar, the only player to win every match he has played in this most unpredictable event, pulled out a 1-up victory over Jordan Spieth in the morning and then kept Brian Harman from another amazing rally by rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole of their quarterfinal match. Kuchar and Scheffler will meet in one semifinal match. Perez will face Billy Horschel, who never led in his quarterfinal match until Tommy Fleetwood sent his tee shot out of bounds on their 19th hole, the par-5 12th. Kuchar won the Match Play in 2013 and lost in the championship match two years ago to Kevin Kisner. With his five wins this week, he now has 33 in this tournament, second only to the 36 matches won by Tiger Woods. Scheffler knows Austin Country Club as well as anyone from his four years he spent playing for the Texas Longhorns, but this was more about the quality of his golf in the face of two intense competitors. He never gave Poulter, a Ryder Cup stalwart and past winner of the Match Play, much of a chance. Poulter didn’t win a hole as Scheffler made seven birdies in a match that ended on the 14th hole. Poulter holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole and looked to cut the deficit to 2 down, only for Scheffler to hole a chip from behind the green. In the quarterfinal match, Rahm fell 3 down when his approach to the par-5 12th found the water. As usual, the Spaniard who reached the championship match in his 2017 debut mounted a charge. Rahm ran off four straight birdies — and he only picked up one hole. Scheffler matched him on the 13th and made a 10-foot birdie after Rahm chipped in on the 14th. “That was a big one,” Scheffler said. “I was standing there greenside and that was kind of the moment. It was kind of his do-or-die moment for the round, and I had a feeling he was going to hit a really good shot and it happened to go in. And I knew I had to roll that one in to keep things in check.” They matched birdies on the 16th, and Rahm conceded after failing to birdie the 17th. Horschel had never made it to the weekend in his four previous appearances, and this one looked doubtful, too, until he beat Max Homa on the third playoff hole to win his group. He dispatched Kevin Streelman in the fourth round Saturday morning, and never led against Fleetwood in the quarterfinals until they went extra holes. Fleetwood had gone 67 straight holes — starting with the 17th hole Wednesday — in which he never trailed. But after the Englishman missed a 12-foot birdie putt for the win on the 18th hole, they headed to the par-5 12th. Fleetwood hit his shot so far left that it went well out-of-bounds, and the best he could manage after re-teeing was a bogey. That almost was enough. Fleetwood hit into the water on the 13th and halved the hole with a bogey when Horschel took three putts from just off the green. Horschel went ultra conservative with Fleetwood out-of-bounds on No. 12 in extra holes. He laid up short of the water, hit a wedge 30 feet by the hole, left his birdie putt 5 feet short and had to make that to win. Kuchar was fortunate to make it through the morning. Spieth never trailed and wasted a chance to go 1 up on the par-5 16th hole. Kuchar was in grass so thick right of the fairway that he asked the marshal to let fans under the rope to help him find his ball. Then, he was given relief from a scoreboard in his line of the flag. He scrambled for par, and Spieth missed a 6-foot birdie putt. Kuchar won on the 18th hole in what amounted to a chipping contest. Spieth went 30 feet long, Kuchar was 6 feet short, and Kuchar won with a birdie. He built a 3-up lead over Harman, against whom no lead is safe. In the fourth round, Harman was 4 down to Bubba Watson through five holes until he made eight straight birdies and won seven straight holes, winning 2 and 1. Harman was 3 down with five holes to play when he won the 14th and added two more birdies, only for Kuchar to match him.

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Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Si Woo Kim is dancing Gangnam Style in celebration around Ponte Vedra Beach after becoming the youngest champion of THE PLAYERS. Here’s five observations from THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass where Kim was sublime on the way to a decisive, three-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Si Woo Kim is just 21 years of age and, as such, becomes the youngest winner of the PLAYERS Championship, beating out Adam Scott’s old mark by nearly two years. On Sunday at TPC Sawgrass, as others faulted around him, Kim put together a bogey-free 3-under 69 in an incredibly mature performance. Despite hitting just 8 of 18 greens in regulation, Kim managed to scramble his way to a relatively dominant victory. It is rare to see this sort of composure without the benefit of experience, especially on a course as penal as Pete Dye’s masterpiece. His win will likely see him join Nick Price’s International team at The Presidents Cup as new young blood as they try to win the biennial competition for the first time since 1998. Having already won the 2016 Wyndham Championship, Kim is the fourth-youngest player in the last 25 years to win twice on TOUR – behind Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth. Pretty heady company. Now we just have to see if he can continue the trends like those before him. 2. Ian Poulter might have fallen short of victory. And he might have hit a shank with a chance to win on the line. But it was still great to see some of the old fire in the Englishman’s belly as he went about snatching his best finish (T2) since the 2013 World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions. Just weeks ago, Poulter believed he had missed the terms of his medical and would be scratching around for starts. But he received a reprieve after a recalculation. The change in his status gifted him a spot in the PLAYERS and boy did he make it count. On Sunday, he charged into a share of the lead on the front nine, and when he made a lengthy par putt on the par-5 ninth, we saw some of his trademark passion with an intense fist pump. To be fair, his last seven holes failed to apply any heat on the leader, but he still showed poise to secure a huge jump in the FedExCup standings. He moved from 136th to 58th, and should be in great shape to make the FedExCup Playoffs and secure a TOUR card for next season. Love him or not, he certainly makes life interesting. 3. Speaking of passion and flair – how much fun was it to ride the rollercoaster with the Spanish connection this week at TPC Sawgrass?! Recently-crowned Masters champion Sergio Garcia gave us a poor start, opening in 40, but then a spirited fightback began, including a hole-in-one on the iconic 17th not long after. He then surged into contention through 54 holes only to post his final round 78 to fall well back. We saw similar stuff from PLAYERS first-timer Jon Rahm, who sat well-poised through 36 holes before shooting 82 on Saturday to MDF. And of course then there was Rafa Cabrera Bello who surged to a T4 finish thanks in part to the first-ever albatross on the par-5 16th hole. His celebrations were fun to watch – check it out below. 4. It was certainly strange to not have one of the big guns surging on Sunday at the PLAYERS. Spoiled with some of the most popular players on TOUR in recent years in Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day as winners of the tournament the large crowds were just waiting for the inevitable rush. Day was paired with Rory McIlroy as the two started eight back but never made a run. The defending champion shot 80 while Rory heads off for his MRI on his back following a 75. Sergio Garcia shot 78 Sunday. Dustin Johnson carded a lovely 68 but was still well off the pace. Fowler signed for a 79 … It was a week for others to shine. It makes this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson very exciting as the likes of Day, Johnson, Garcia and Jordan Spieth (who missed the cut at Sawgrass) join the field. 5. The changes at TPC Sawgrass were for the most part a success. The new green surfaces rolled pure and true and the drivable par-4 12th created a new dynamic to the back nine. A total of 41 players went for the green (hit 3-wood or driver) in the final round compared to 26 in Round 1, 39 in Round 2 and 46 in Round 3. Some players also attempted to hit the green using irons off the tee. While the majority laid back, worried about the risk, the hole did its job – i.e. it made them think. The course is one of the most exciting on the planet where a great score (ace, albatross) or even double digits (Anirban Lahiri had a 10 on the 18th) can be just around the corner.  FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Kim ranked second this week in Strokes Gained: off-the-tee and Strokes Gained: tee-to-green. For the season, Kim had ranked 195th and 194th on TOUR, respectively, producing a stunning turnaround. Kim led the field in Scrambling (22 of 27). 2. Kim’s winning 278 tournament total is the highest at THE PLAYERS since Sergio Garcia won in 2008 (283). 3. With 600 FedExCup points, Kim moves to No. 21 in the FedExCup, while Dustin Johnson (T12) maintained the lead. Last season, Kim was one of two PGA TOUR rookies to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs finale, the TOUR Championship. He ended the season at No. 17. 4. Kim becomes the first player from Asia to win twice on the PGA TOUR before the age of 22. He is one of eight Korean-born players to win on the PGA TOUR and becomes the fifth with multiple victories: K.J. Choi (8), Y.E. Yang (2), Sangmoon Bae (2), James Hahn (2), Si Woo Kim (2), Kevin Na (1), Seung-Yul Noh (1), Danny Lee (1). 5. There was a total of 69 balls in the water on the par-3 17th island green for the week: 19 in Round 1, 29 in Round 2, 10 in Round 3 and 11 in the final round. It was the most water balls since there were 93 back in 2007 and the second-most since the stat was kept from 2003. TOP THREE VIDEOS 1. Take a bow Rafa Cabrera Bello… or a run through the high five gauntlet… after this history making albatross 2. A hole-in-one from a former PLAYERS champ fresh off winning a green jacket. Nice.  3. If at first you have a near air swing … try again. Jordan Spieth shows us how. 

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