Korda flirts with 59, takes lead at Olympics

AUSTIN, Texas — Americans Matt Kuchar and Kevin Kisner have advanced to Sunday afternoon’s Championship match of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Kuchar beat Lucas Bjerregaard while Kisner knocked off Francesco Molinari in the Semifinals at Austin Country Club. Kuchar, who attended Georgia Tech, is a 2013 Match Play champ. Kisner, who attended Georgia, is making his second straight Championship match appearance. Their match is scheduled to start at 3:25 p.m. ET. “I hate them ‘Dawgs,” Kuchar joked about Kisner. “He’s a fantastic player. We’ve got a bunch of great players on Tour. He’s certainly one of them. Doing great around this place. Back-to-back championship matches for him is awfully impressive. “I don’t expect to see any bogeys. I expect to see a lot of putts made. It’s going to be a tough match.” Bjerregaard and Molinari will meet in the Consolation match at 3:05 p.m. ET. Check below for recaps of the Semifinal matches. MATCH PLAY: Scores  | Bracket Expert Picks PGATOUR.COM staff writers Ben Everill and Mike McAllister are on-site in Austin and will predict the winner of every match each day. Semifinals MATT KUCHAR (23) def. LUCAS BJERREGAARD (50), 1 up Kuchar is back in the Championship match for the first time since winning this event in 2013, as he held off the upstart from Denmark. The win was the 28th in Kuchar’s Match Play career, the third most behind Tiger Woods and Ian Poulter in tournament history. Kuchar will be seeking his third win of the PGA TOUR season against Kevin Kisner in the Championship match. Bjerregaard, who defeated Tiger Woods in Saturday’s quarterfinals, missed a birdie putt from 34 feet on the final hole that would’ve extended the match. Kuchar opened with a birdie from 9 feet to grab the lead, but after both players bogeyed the second, Kuchar suffered another bogey at the fourth when he missed a par putt from 5 feet. Kuchar regained the lead at the par-5 sixth when Bjerregaard found the rough with his second shot. But Kuchar again gave back the lead with a bogey at the seventh. Bjerregard followed his bogey at the ninth with a birdie from 8 feet at the 10th to tie the match again. A two-putt birdie at the par-5 12th put Kuchar 1-up, but Bjerregaard answered with a birdie putt from 23-1/2 feet at the 15th. Kuchar regained the lead with another two-putt birdie at the 16th and rolled in a birdie putt at the 17th from 12 feet to force Bjerregaard to answer – which he did from 10 feet to extend the match to 18. Said Kuchar: “”I feel that this was NCAA Tournament survive and advance. It was not great golf. Certainly the last couple of holes for me to hit the shot in 16, birdie 17 finally felt like I needed to make a move, I’ve got to do something.” Said Bjerregaard: “I didn’t get to put the pressure on him today like I did in my two matches yesterday. I didn’t make the putts I had to. I didn’t hit the shots when I had the chance. So, yeah, disappointed now.” Match stats: Holes won – Kuchar 5, Bjerregaard 4. Holes led – Kuchar 11, Bjerregaard 0. KEVIN KISNER (48) def. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (7), 1 up Kisner reached the Championship final for the second consecutive year, winning the final hole with par after Molinari three-putted from 27 feet. Not since Hunter Mahan in 2013 has a player advanced to the final in two straight years. Kisner lost to Bubba Watson in last year’s final after beating Alex Noren in 19 holes in the semifinals. The match was tied going to the par-4 18th. Molinari’s tee shot left him in the fairway bunker while Kisner found the fairway. Both players were on the green in two, but Molinari’s downhill putt ran 7 feet, 8 inches past the hole. Kisner’s birdie putt from 14 feet left him with a tap-in par, and Molinari’s par save just missed on the left side. The loss was Molinari’s first of the week. Kisner has won his last five matches after opening with a loss to Ian Poulter in the group stage. The lead changed six times in the first seven holes, with each player producing three birdies in that stretch. Kisner won the opening hole with a birdie but gave it right back when his approach at the second from 133 yards found the native area. Molinari won the third with a birdie from 14-1/2 feet but gave it right back when he failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the fourth. A Kisner birdie putt from 27-1/2 feet at the fifth gave him the lead. Both players birdied the sixth, then Molinari won the par-3 seventh after his tee shot finished inside 3 feet. Kisner took the lead at the par-5 12th as Molinari found the water with his third shot from off the green. That led to a stretch of three bogeys in four holes for Molinari, but he bounced bback with consecutive birdies, while Kisner found trouble at the par-5 16th. Molinari’s tee shot at the par-3 17th finished inside 5 feet, as he tied the match entering the last hole. Said Kisner: “The front nine I was freezing, and we actually made more birdies on the front nine than we did the back. It’s an interesting game and match play brings out interesting things. I never dreamed he would three-putt the last hole to let me win the match. Hats off to him. He’s a great player. He’s been playing great all year.” Said Molinari: “Just didn’t quite play my best. We played quite well on the front nine and then just dropped too many easy shots on the back nine, unfortunately. It is what it is. Still a positive week. … I bogeyed 12, 14, 18 from decent spots in the middle of the fairway. So it’s not something really you’re allowed to do.” Match stats: Holes won – Kisner 6, Molinari 5. Holes led – Kisner 9, Molionari 1.

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club (par 70, 7,044 yards) in Honolulu that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Nobody Beats the Kizz Patton Kizzire held off James Hahn over six playoff holes to win for the second time on TOUR this season. His first win involved fending off Rickie Fowler at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Now, he adds a six-hole playoff to his resume less than two months later. His recipe for success this week included painting the top 10 in SG: Approach the Green, SG: Putting and bogey avoidance. He circled 22 birdies, T4 on the week. The 31-year old from Tuscaloosa is an Auburn grad but I’m guessing he’s still having a very good year. This is his second win and fourth top 10 in seven events in the new season. Hahn Solo James Hahn’s 62 on Sunday was two better than the next best and secured his place in the epic playoff on 17-under-par 263. Hahn continued his excellent record at Waialae as he posted his sixth consecutive payday and his first podium finish. Of his 24 rounds on this track 20 are in red figures including in 15 of his last 16. He torched the par four holes to the tune of 13-under and that never hurts at this event! I can understand if gamers were skeptical entering the week as his low round in three events during the fall was just 68. Sandwiched Between Chalk this up as a great learning experience for Tom Hoge. Most guys holding the 54-hole lead for the first time rarely go on to win. Hoge had the lead at 18-under after a birdie on No. 12. His double on No. 16 knocked him out of the lead and he eventually finished solo third, his best finish on TOUR. Hoge has never finished better than No. 132 in the FEC standings but he’s picked up his second top 10 in his first six attempts of the 2017-18 season. Charlotte’s Webb His 63 on Saturday was the lowest of the day and his 65 on Sunday moved him up five more spots to T4. Simpson finished last year with a flurry as he finished T20 or better in six of his last seven events. He might have added another in The RSM Classic but he withdrew to be by his dying father’s side. He’s picked back up where he left off with his fourth top 10 in his last eight starts. The Life of Brian Brian Stuard played 31 events last season and made just 16 cuts. None of those weekends resulted in a top 10 and only four went for top 25’s. He’s exempt this year as he’s the last Zurich champion that didn’t have a partner. He’s found new life in the new season as he’s now made the cut in all six events he’s played and half of those have gone for top 10’s. This is also his third top 10 in his last five starts at Waialae. Gamers love when recent and course form merges! Hawaii 5-0 Technically it is Hawaii 5-6, as in 56-under-par in his last four trips for Gary Woodland. After MC in his first two trips he’s fired off T-3, T-13 and T-6 last year with all 12 rounds at par or better. He added four more rounds in the red this week and his 64 on Sunday leapfrogged him 14 spots to T7. He co-led the field in birdies with 24, tied with fellow T7 finisher Ollie Schniederjans.  Kelly Green I’m usually ageist in fantasy golf but all rules have exceptions and Jerry Kelly at Waialae qualifies. His final round 66 moved him up to T14, his 13th top 25 in 21 career events. This is his WORST finish, when making the cut, in his last four trips. Not bad for 51 years young! Favorite Sons Defending champion Justin Thomas posted four rounds of 68 or lower and finished T14. Strangely he only made 15 birdies on the week but he did add two eagles. The last repeat champion will still be Ernie Els in 2003-2004. I didn’t see anything from the Bones-Thomas pairing that would suggest anything but business as usual moving forward. Jordan Spieth’s pair of 66’s on the weekend saw him cash T18. The backdoor wasn’t as cracked as much as gamers hoped and it was Spieth’s putter, strangely, that let him down. He ranked 58th in SG: Putting but he was first in GIR. I know which one of these two is easier to fix and it rhymes with cutting… Study Hall Wesley Bryan didn’t stick a driver in his bag this week and isn’t going to in the foreseeable future. He finished T32 and posted all four rounds at par or better…No magic Marc Leishman Sunday this week as the Aussie could only muster 68 and finished T47…Charles Howell, III never fired this week (T29) but he’s still never missed the cut at Waialae in 17 starts…Jason Dufner continues to have better results with the putter. He finished T18 for the week and 18th in SG: Putting…I hid Brian Harman down here as I have written about him the last three days. Fantasy players who had him this week will be disappointed that he didn’t close the deal. I’ll point out I was one of them but I’m not upset he didn’t win. Winning is really difficult out here and if he continues to rack up top 10’s, I’ll be able to live with my decisions! Have some perspective, folks! Only one guy can win each week!

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