WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play Day 3

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3
March 24-28
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
$10,500,000
Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5

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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

It took eight playoffs on Friday to decide the group winners, three more than the previous record of five in 2017.

Sergio Garcia made a 10-foot and an 8-foot putt to keep the match going then on the par-3 3rd, the fourth extra hole, he made a hole-in-one when his shot rolled back into the cup knocking Lee Westwood out of the tournament.

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

“A hole-in-one is amazing. Lucky No. 13 for me. But the two putts I made on two and three, massive, to keep myself going. And then obviously the shot on four, it’s a great shot, but then you get lucky that first of all it doesn’t hit the flag, and then it rolls back in,” said Garcia.

“Obviously very happy about that. I’m sorry for Lee because I did a couple stupid things to him this week, the first day and today, but unfortunately one of us had to lose.”

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

Westwood won his game against Tyrell Hatton, forcing the playoff after Garcia was unable to win or tie against Matt Wallace.

“It was a tough day. I had to take some Advil on the sixth green because the arch of my left foot was cramping and I was struggling to get through the ball,” said Garcia.

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

“Because of that I didn’t hit the ball as well as I did the other days. I didn’t hit it poorly, but I just didn’t hit it quite as well. I’m going to have to work on it because tomorrow hopefully is going to be a very long day, and I need my feet to be in perfect shape.”

Kevin Na could have called for a penalty against Dustin Johnson at the 11th after Johnson’s birdie putt from 8 feet lipped out and Johnson tapped back before waiting for Na to concede.

“I had just inside three feet for a par uphill; it’s a straight putt, and his lipped out and he had six inches and obviously it’s good, but I hadn’t said anything, and he whacked it,” Na explained later.

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

“I froze there and looked at Kenny (Harms , his caddie) and I wasn’t going to say that’s a penalty, you’re going to lose the hole. I was going to say, you know what, that was good anyway. I didn’t want to be over that putt and be thinking about that.

“So I called him over and said, Hey, I’m not going to take the hole from you, but I just want to let you know before I said something you whacked the ball. But I’m going to give that putt to you, so we’ll call it a halve and go to the next hole. That’s what we did. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Johnson lost the next hole after finding the water with his second shot and Na won the match with a birdie at 18.

Robert MacIntyre’s struggle to reach the weekend went down to the wire. He was 1-down against Adam Long with the 371-yard par-4 18th left to play.

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

“For me, if I hit my normal shot I fly the slope, hits flat, doesn’t go on the green. I had to hit a low one. I had to get it flighted, but my miss with that flighted shot is in the hazard left,” he said. “But I was 1 down, I had to win the hole, so I thought, here we go. Let’s get the low one going.”

His drive stopped three feet from the hole as Dustin Johnson, playing the the group ahead, was preparing to putt and MacIntyre won the match with an eagle.

“I didn’t have a clue how close,” said MacIntyre. I’m thinking it’s going to be just on the green below the slope. Going to have hopefully two putts maybe to win the hole. But when I seen where they put the ball back down I was like, `No way!’

“I had probably one of the best and one of the luckiest golf shots I’ve hit in my life,” he laughed. “You’ve just got to keep fighting until the end, and it just shows anything can happen in this game.”

Jon Rahm is the only top seed from Group play remaining in the final 16.

Ian Poulter and Matt Kuchar are the only players to have won all three of their matches.

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

Playoffs
Group 3	Jon Rahm (3)W	Ryan Palmer (24)
Group 4	Max Homa (35)	Billy Horschel (32)W
Group 6	Xander Schauffele (6)	Scottie Scheffler (30)W
Group 7	Bubba Watson (55)W	Joaquin Niemann (26)
Group 8	Sergio Garcia (39)W	Lee Westwood (18)
Group 10	Patrick Cantlay (10)	Brian Harman (54)W
Group 13	Kevin Streelman (53)W	Abraham Ancer (27)
Group 14	Daniel Berger (14)	Erik van Rooyen (62)W

WGC – Match Play 2021 R3

Group	Player		Score		Player
2	THOMAS, Justin	>	3&2		OOSTHUIZEN, Louis
3	MUNOZ, Sebastian		3&2	<	LOWRY, Shane
12	FINAU, Tony	>	2UP		KOKRAK, Jason
12	FRITTELLI, Dylan		2UP	<	ZALATORIS, Will
5	DECHAMBEAU, Bryson		1UP	<	FLEETWOOD, Tommy
5	ROZNER, Antoine	>	3&1		KIM, Si Woo
13	HOVLAND, Viktor	>	1UP		ANCER, Abraham
13	STREELMAN, Kevin	>	1UP		WIESBERGER, Bernd
4	MORIKAWA, Collin		3&2	<	HORSCHEL, Billy
4	POSTON, J. T.		3&2	<	HOMA, Max
9	SIMPSON, Webb		Halved		CASEY, Paul
9	GOOCH, Talor		Halved		HUGHES, Mackenzie
8	HATTON, Tyrrell		4&3	<	WESTWOOD, Lee
8	WALLACE, Matt	>	3&2		GARCIA, Sergio
16	IM, Sungjae		2&1	<	PEREZ, Victor
16	HENLEY, Russell		Halved		LEISHMAN, Marc
1	JOHNSON, Dustin		1UP	<	NA, Kevin
1	LONG, Adam		Halved		MACINTYRE, Robert
11	MCILROY, Rory		Halved		SMITH, Cameron
11	POULTER, Ian	>	2&1		GRIFFIN, Lanto
6	SCHAUFFELE, Xander		Halved		SCHEFFLER, Scottie
6	SULLIVAN, Andy		3&1	<	DAY, Jason
14	BERGER, Daniel	>	4&2		ENGLISH, Harris
14	VAN ROOYEN, Erik	>	2&1		TODD, Brendon
3	RAHM, Jon		Halved		PALMER, Ryan
10	CANTLAY, Patrick		4&2	<	MATSUYAMA, Hideki
10	HARMAN, Brian	>	3&2		ORTIZ, Carlos
7	REED, Patrick		5&4	<	NIEMANN, Joaquin
7	WATSON, Bubba	>	5&3		BEZUIDENHOUT, Christiaan
15	FITZPATRICK, Matthew	>	3&2		WOLFF, Matthew
15	SPIETH, Jordan	>	3&2		CONNERS, Corey
2	KUCHAR, Matt	>	2&1		KISNER, Kevin