Woods, McIlroy advance to Match Play showdown

AUSTIN, Texas -- If there were a dream matchup in mind before the start of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play this week, having Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer of his generation, square off against Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the hottest player in the world over the past three months, had to be on the top of the list.

Woods and McIlroy both posted dominating victories on Friday and advanced to the knockout round at the demanding Austin Country Club. Those two will meet on Saturday in one of eight round-of-16 matches in a mega-watt showdown.

"We're looking forward to it," Woods said of his match with McIlroy. "We've played tournaments together, battled each other down the stretch at events, but never in a match-play situation, so this will be fun."

And while there was plenty of fireworks on Friday and anticipation for the Woods-McIlroy match, 14 other golfers moved on, too, led by Sweden's Henrik Stenson, Spain's Sergio Garcia and Australia's Marc Leishman.

The golfers who advanced from three rounds of pool play over the past three days will face off in the round of 16 on Saturday morning. The eight winners will then play in the quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon to cut the field to the final four.

Woods, playing in this event for the first time since 2013 and for the first time since the tournament moved to Austin Country Club in 2016, fell behind Patrick Cantlay after a bogey on the par-5 sixth and was 2 down after another bogey on the tough par-4 eighth.

But Woods responded by winning five of the next six holes, a stretch that included holing out for eagle from 81 yards on the short par-4 13th. He closed out Cantlay with birdie on the 16th, winning 4 and 2.

"I said, 'Just keep plugging along, it's going to turn,' and eventually it really did turn, it turned pretty nicely," Woods said of his charge. "I made three (birdie) putts and a hole-out in a four-hole stretch."

When Aaron Wise defeated Brandt Snedeker 6 and 4, Woods captured Group 13 and earned a chance to continue on the chase for his fourth win in this event.

"This golf course is tricky because there's so many moving parts out there," Woods said. "Not only the wind comes from all over the place, but these mounds. But it's match play and no one really cares what your score is at the end of the day in relation to par. As long as you move on, and I moved on."

McIlroy roared into the knockout round via a 4-and-2 win over England's Matthew Fitzpatrick, capping a sweep of his matches in pool play over the first three days.

"I'm comfortable with everything -- confidence, comfortable -- whatever the word is, I'm just really happy with my game," said McIlroy, who won The Players Championship two weeks ago. "I'm happy with every aspect, off the tee, my irons, around the green. Hopefully I can just carry that into tomorrow."

Stenson routed Jim Furyk 5 and 4 and never trailed in the match, losing just one hole before closing out the win at the 14th hole. Stenson also went undefeated in pool play and will play Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard in the round of 16.

"That's the best round of golf I've played all year for certain," Stenson said. "And very pleased to put it together. Today I had some beautiful iron shots. I think I hit it within a foot four times on my approaches, which is good on any day anywhere."

Leishman rolled past Bryson DeChambeau 5 and 4 to complete three wins in three days in Group 6. He advances to face Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, the Group 11 winner.

Garcia won Group 16 despite a 2-and-1 loss on Friday to Patrick Reed. He will play South Africa's Branden Grace, the Group 1 winner with a perfect 3-0-0 mark.

Other Round of 16 matches include Matt Kuchar versus England's Tyrrell Hatton; Paul Casey of England against Francesco Molinari of Italy; Kevin Kisner versus China's HaoTong Li (who both had to go to extra holes to beat England's Ian Poulter and Sweden's Alex Noren, respectively); and, Kevin Na against Justin Rose of England.

--Field Level Media