(Austin) Defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy survived their match on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Match Match Championship.
Scheffler, who reached the tournament final in his two appearances at the Austin Golf Club, looked set to return home as J.T. Poston led by three holes after 14 holes.
Scheffler tied the game with a birdie on the 17th flag and pared on the 18th hole to eliminate Poston.
Scheffler, who is ranked No. 1 in the world, is also due to defend his Masters title in two weeks. At the moment, he is just three wins away from joining Tiger Woods as the only golfers to have won the Championship by hole in a row.
McIlroy triumphed at this tournament in 2015, the first year of the current single-elimination format. He reached the quarter-finals of the event, all formats combined, for the fifth time.
McIlroy was leading by a hole at the 17th flag when Lucas Herbert birdied long from 30 feet. McIlroy replied with a short birdie to hold his lead.
On the last hole, the Northern Irishman was aggressive on his tee shot and he put the ball three feet from the hole following an easy approach. Herbert conceded victory.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes won three straight holes on the front nine and left Max Homa no hope en route to a 3-and-2 victory. Hughes will face Sam Burns, who beat Patrick Cantlay 2-and-1.
Former tournament champion Jason Day has ended Matt Kuchar’s bid to break Woods’ record for most games won at this tournament. Day held on to take it by a holeshot.
This is the last performance of the Match Match Championship and Kuchar stopped at 36 wins, as did Woods, who is the only player to have won this tournament on three occasions.
Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young and Kurt Kitayama also won their match to advance to the quarter-finals.
