AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Needing to win the final hole to advance, Bob MacIntrye drilled a driver 3 feet from the cup in the 371-yard 18th hole. Moments later, Sergio Garcia ended one of eight sudden death playoff records with a hole-in-one.
As for golf’s most fickle event, Dell Technologies Match Play on Friday was an endless frenzy.
Kevin Na lectured Dustin Johnson about not waiting for a putt to be awarded – six inches – and then made a birdie in the last two holes to take down the world’s No. 1 player. Patrick Cantlay, practically flawless with 14 birdies and an eagle in two days, managed just two birdies and missed a playoff with a three-putt.
When he finally finished, Jon Rahm, in third place, was the only player in the top 20 to reach the weekend’s knockout round at the Austin Country Club.
“You never know what could happen out there,” said Billy Horschel after defeating Max Homa on the third hole in the playoff.
Almost everything did.
Garcia beat Lee Westwood in the longest of the eight playoffs with a 161-yard 9th iron for a front pin in the fourth hole of the par 3 that fell just after the pin and dripped back into the cup.
“Well, 28 years on tour and I thought I saw everything. I didn’t!” Westwood posted on Twitter.
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Equally impressive was the movement of MacIntyre, the 24-year-old Scot with a lot of courage and a lot of struggle. He was down 1 against Adam Long, who was about to advance with Johnson in the group ahead, about to lose to Na.
Johnson stepped back from his 6-foot putt – Na had only 4 feet for birdie – and his caddy, brother Austin, stepped a few feet from the glass to help read the putt. Out of nowhere, a ball shot from the left side of the bench around the lawn and rolled in front of the caddy’s feet.
Dustin had to score MacIntyre’s ball so he could putt. MacIntyre was oblivious to what happened, except that he knew he got the shot in his life.
“Probably one of the best and one of the luckiest golf shots I’ve ever done in my life,” said MacIntyre. “You just have to keep fighting until the end, and it shows that anything can happen in this game.”
His only chance was a low bullet, which took the slope for an extra run towards the left side of the lawn, which MacIntyre couldn’t see. He heard it was on the lawn.
“I had no idea how close,” said MacIntyre. I’m thinking it will be just on the lawn below the slope. I hope to have two strokes, perhaps to win the hole. But when I saw where they put the ball back I was like, ‘No way!’
“And that’s what you play for, in those moments.”
Considering how it was three days of group play, there is no way to know what to expect on the weekend of victory or back home. It will include a trio of Texas Longhorns, including Jordan Spieth for the first time since 2016. He won three consecutive holes in the curve and, unlike Thursday, when he left Matthew Wolff out of danger, Spieth managed to close Corey Conners.
Scottie Scheffler cut the fight in half when Xander Schauffele gave an 8-foot birdie on the last hole, and then Scheffler returned the favor with a 12-foot birdie on the second extra hole. The other Longhorn is Dylan Frittelli from South Africa, who became the first number 64 in Match Play history to reach the weekend.
Frittelli had company.
Two other players with seeds in the 60th or less managed to reach the knockout stage. Ian Poulter won his third consecutive match as seed number 60, while Erik van Rooyen (62) advanced by defeating Daniel Berger with a pair in the second hole of the playoff.
Poulter and Matt Kuchar are the only players who have won all three matches. Kuchar knocked out defending champion Kevin Kisner with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.
The 64-man field based on the world ranking was divided into groups of 16 based, with the 16 finalists assigned to group “D”. Eight of these players are still in the game. Rahm was the only player in group “A” of the top 16.
Brian Harman felt a small dose of redemption. He hit the equivalent of 64 in the opening round and still lost to Cantlay, who had seven birdies and an eagle. But when Cantlay fell and lost to Hideki Matsuyama, it sent Cantlay and Harman back to a sudden death playoff that Harman won when Cantlay’s 4-foot putt failed.
Garcia was surprised by his ace, but he was quick to point out that he had to make a pair of 10 feet and an 8 foot pair on the previous two holes just to stay in the game during the playoff.
The eight playoffs to decide the group’s winners broke the previous mark of five in 2017, since the group’s game started six years ago.
“The two putts I made … huge to keep me moving,” said Garcia. “And then, obviously, the shot at 4, it’s a great shot, but then you’re lucky that first of all he didn’t hit the flag because he must have been very close to hitting the flag, and then he rolls back. Obviously, a lot happy about it. “
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