Top seeds Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy all made it through the round-robin phase at the WGC-Dell Match Play in Texas on Friday to advance to the 16-man knockout stage.
Bubba Watson was the highest seed to fall, the fourth-ranked American exiting Group 4 with a 1-1-1 record after losing to J.B. Holmes. Patton Kizzire, seeded 63rd in the 64-man tournament, advanced from the group with a win and two halves.
Defending champion McIlroy set up a showdown with British Open winner Zach Johnson at the Austin Country Club.
Photo: AFP
McIlroy posted an identical 2-0-1 overall record as his Friday opponent Kevin Na, but advanced as the winner of his four-man group when he won a playoff at the second extra hole after Na drove into a hazard.
Six players finished the stage with 3-0-0 records — Spieth, Day, Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed and Bill Haas.
Third-seeded McIlroy was relieved just to have made it through.
“All three of my matches this week have been tough,” the Northern Irishman said. “I did not get off to the best of starts again, but found my rhythm in the middle of the round, and started to make some birdies and hit some good shots when I needed to. It took a mistake from him to get over the line.”
Spieth continued his sizzling form in the city where he went to the University of Texas, buoyed by a supportive crowd as he beat fellow American Justin Thomas 3-and-2.
“Jumping off to a three-up lead early on the front nine for the third straight day takes a lot of stress off,” said Spieth, who is to defend his Masters title in two weeks.
Next up for Spieth is South African Oosthuizen, who was looking forward to facing the world No. 1 in front of a partisan crowd.
“I think it is going to be against 10,000 to 15,000 people, so that should be a challenge, but I am looking forward to it,” the 2010 British Open champion said. “I am playing well. I just need to keep playing the way I am playing.”
Second-seeded Day advanced when his English opponent Paul Casey pulled out after six holes, citing illness.
Haas advanced by beating Australian Adam Scott.
“There was not much of an edge out there,” Haas said, revealing that Scott had jokingly told him he needed to up his game if he wanted to have a chance yesterday.
“I struggled all day from tee to green. Adam gave me a few holes. When we shook hands, he said, ‘I do not know what to say about that, but you need to play better tomorrow.’”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB