Despite 17 birdies, Rory McIlroy needs two trips to ‘friendly’ No. 18
Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele were deadlocked in their quarterfinal match Saturday afternoon at Austin Country Club when both players yanked their tee balls at the par-4 finishing hole.
The closest ball had found the left rough, just 74 yards from the hole but with a large tree blocking a straightforward wedge shot.
McIlroy was pretty sure that ball was his.
“I was walking up there expecting it to be a TaylorMade ball and I saw a Callaway on it, and I was as surprised as anyone, because mine was further left than Xander’s off the tee,” McIlroy said. “Look, you need a little bit of fortune in these things, and that was a bit of luck for me today.”
McIlroy’s tee ball had trundle farther down the hill, about 30 yards away. Schauffele, meanwhile, was forced to punch his second shot under and to the left of the tree. He missed the birdie chip, leaving McIlroy, who had pitched to 12 feet, a chance to win a match on No. 18 for the second time in one day.
And McIlroy buried it to advance to the semifinals of the final WGC-Dell Match Play.
“It’s sort of been friendly to me all week,” McIlroy said of the last hole, which he’s now played in 4 under in three trips this week. He eagled after driving the green with a 375-yard shot in Thursday’s group-stage win over Denny McCarthy.
“Yeah, hopefully if I can play a little bit better, I don’t need to play 18 tomorrow. But we shall see.”
Matches and scoring from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship
McIlroy was certainly joking. His closing birdie against Schauffele marked his 17th of the day. He carded nine of those in a 2-up victory over Lucas Herbert in the Round of 16.
“Both ends of the bag are working pretty well,” McIlroy said, “and the stuff in the middle is not too bad, either.”
McIlroy has seemed to get everyone’s best shot so far, and that figures to continue in his semifinal bout opposite Cameron Young on Sunday morning.
Young played 32 holes in 12 under on Saturday.