March 27-31
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
$10,250,000
Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5

A record-breaking eight Europeans progressed to the Round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play after another fascinating day at Austin Country Club, with Lucas Bjerregaard the only debutant in the field to top his group - setting up a clash against fellow Scandinavian Henrik Stenson.

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Bjerregard's match with England's Matt Wallace went all the way to the 18th hole, but the 27 year old battled to a 1up victory to join nine other European Tour members in the final 16. Stenson, meanwhile, beat 2020 Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk 5&4 to make it three successive victories.

“I had not seen anything from Justin's match," said Bjerregaard. "My caddie is the one who told me when I missed the one on 18 that he had halved. I just knew that I had to win. It's been a couple of stressful days but I'm happy to come out and go through.

“It should be fun. I like Henrik. I don't think I've ever played with him, actually. But it should be fun. And he's obviously been playing well too. So we should have a good game, and I'll tease him a little. We'll have a little bit of Swedish-Danish thing going on.”

The 2018 Race to Dubai Champion Francesco Molinari also retained his 100 per cent record with a 2&1 triumph over Webb Simpson, as did Branden Grace – the South African overcoming Chez Reavie 2&1 to set up a showdown with Ryder Cup legend Sergio Garcia, who progressed despite a 2&1 defeat to Patrick Reed.

“Obviously that was the goal, to get through," said Garcia. "In the perfect world, I would have loved to win today and I probably had my chances to do it. But you also have to give credit to Patrick, he played really well, mainly the back nine. He shot five-under in eight holes.

“So when someone does that to you and you don't take a couple of chances that you had, it's going to be difficult. But we're through tomorrow. That's the main thing on this round-robin thing. And now tomorrow it's a brand new tournament.”

The first day of the knockout stages has thrown up numerous mouth-watering matches in Texas, with Molinari taking on his 2018 Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey – who beat Cameron Smith 4&3 to top his group – while World Number Two Justin Rose ground out a 1up victory over Gary Woodland to remain unbeaten. He will face Kevin Na in the first knockout stage.

Haotong Li of China overcame Sweden's Alex Noren in a play-off to squeeze through and he will come up against last year's runner-up Kevin Kisner, who beat Ian Poulter on the third play-off hole to win his group.

“The whole day was just like a roller coaster, and I didn't play solid the whole day," said Li." I was a little bit off on my tee shots and I think that was it. And on my final hole, the 18th , I was just a little bit nervous and hit the putt a little soft, and it didn't get enough break.

“But I felt like if happens, it happens. I felt like I ran out of all the energy already. I need to get something, recover and let's see what happens tomorrow.”

Tyrrell Hatton beat his English compatriot Lee Westwood 3&1 and he will face Matt Kuchar in the Round of 16, while Louis Oosthuizen triumphed over 2017 European Tour Number One Tommy Fleetwood to set up a clash with Marc Leishman.

All eyes in Texas though, are likely to be on the 8:30am match which pitches World Number Four Rory McIlroy against 14-time Major Champion Tiger Woods.