Scottie Scheffler’s long playoff win sets up Match Play finals rematch with Billy Horschel

AUSTIN, Texas – Scottie Scheffler knew the rules. Even though he had drummed Matt Fitzpatrick, 5 and 4, in their pool-play match Friday at Austin Country Club, there would be no head-to-head tiebreaker to decide who would advance to the knockout stage at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

Scheffler and Fitzpatrick, each 2-1, would have to settle things in a playoff.

“If I would have not known the rule, I would have been pretty surprised and a bit frustrated, but I knew the rule going in,” Scheffler said, “and so for me, I knew what I needed to do today and I was fortunate to be able to do that.”

It took six holes, tied for the longest playoff in this event’s current format (Bill Hass beat K.T. Kim in 2017), but Scheffler eventually eliminated the Englishman by canning a 6-foot birdie putt. Scheffler now advances to Saturday morning’s Round-of-16 match against Billy Horschel, whom Scheffler is also familiar with; Horschel beat him in the final last year.

Perhaps the only thing Scheffler wasn’t prepared for on Friday was the wait between the finish of he and Fitzpatrick’s morning match and the start of their playoff. Because there are 32 matches scheduled each day with tee times stretching to 2:50 p.m. CT, Scheffler had to wait almost three hours to put away Fitzpatrick.

Matches and scoring from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship

“I was a bit surprised with that,” Scheffler said. “I would have loved to have just kept going the way I was playing in the beginning, and Matt did a really good job of regrouping, and he came out and played some really nice golf in the playoff.”

During the break, Scheffler ate lunch, watched some of the coverage, stretched, re-warmed up and then headed to the first tee. He was met by a different Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick had only played even-par golf in 14 holes of regulation, with no birdies and a chip-in eagle, but managed to trade birdies at Nos. 1 and 5 in the playoff. The birdie at the first came from 8 feet and after a good break when Fitzpatrick’s ball kicked out of a fairway bunker and gave him a good look at the green.
But Scheffler hung tough. The former Texas standout hasn’t carded a bogey or worse since bogeying the fourth hole on Wednesday against Ian Poulter.

He’ll need more of that mistake-free golf to get his revenge on Horschel, who won each his first two matches, 3 and 2, before tying Thomas Pieters.

“Right now, I feel really confident with my game and feel really confident with what I’m doing,” Horschel said.

Horschel beat Scheffler, 2 and 1, last year.

“It’ll be a fun match,” Scheffler said. “I haven’t had much time to process, but I’m just going to go home and get some rest and prepare for a good fight tomorrow.”