Match play: Ram, unknown Bland to closing 16

Match play: Ram, unknown Bland to final 16

Austin, Texas – Jon Ram misplaced his recreation and went on to make it into the weekend. Scotty Scheffler solely wanted 14 holes to win his match in opposition to Matt Fitzpatrick, then six extra to defeat him in a playoff.

The third full day of infinite pleasure at Dell Applied sciences Match Play lastly got here to an finish when Colin Morikawa netted the inexperienced in a 4 draw, not almost as thrilling as his shot that gained the PGA Championship however nonetheless efficient in getting it by group play.

Sixteen gamers stay within the knockout part that begins Saturday morning, all figuring out that three days of tense matches imply nothing going ahead.

Now it is actual,” Abraham Unser mentioned after Webb Simpson pressed him. “Now you’re positive that you’ll not advance if you don’t win.”

Ram possessed this luxurious by successful his first two video games. He was a slob on the linebacker 9 within the loss to Patrick Reed, who performed one of the best golf after having already been eradicated. However the No. 1 participant on the planet averted a playoff in his group when Cameron Younger additionally misplaced.

Seamus Energy additionally misplaced his match, however by then he was already positive of successful his group. The Irishman acquired one other bonus: by reaching the fourth spherical, Bauer was assured to stay within the prime 50 and enter the Masters Event.

4 teams had been recognized in further holes.

There are not any playoffs, and three gamers who gained their recreation needed to return to the primary tee for sudden demise in opposition to the participant they’d simply defeated.

Schaeffler confronted essentially the most troublesome instances. Takumi Kanaya felt the luckiest.

Schaeffler needed to beat Fitzpatrick to have any probability, and that was the straightforward half in successful 5 and 4. They needed to wait over two hours for all matches to complete earlier than the playoff began. They matched the sparrows at number one, pars within the subsequent three holes and the sparrows within the fifth gap. Schaeffler lastly gained a sixth place 5 when a 6-foot-tall shot penetrated after Fitzpatrick missed from 15 ft.

“I knew the principles,” Scheffler mentioned of going to additional holes after defeating Fitzpatrick within the bout.

“I did not know we needed to wait so lengthy to return again within the playoff. I used to be just a little stunned by that. I might have cherished if I had continued the best way I used to be taking part in at first and Matt did a extremely good job regrouping, and he went out and performed some actually nice golf within the playoff. “.

His prize was a fourth-round match in opposition to Billy Horschel, who defeated Scheffler within the championship match final yr.

Ram faces Brooks Koepka, who narrowly averted a playoff. Koepka tied Shane Lowry on the 18th when he hit a 45-yard discipline of well-packed dust on the left from the 18-by-8-foot inexperienced and made a jumper for the 1-up win.

Kanaya was in the identical predicament as Scheffler. He needed to defeat Australian Lucas Herbert, and completed the match on 14 holes.

On the primary gap within the playoff, Kanaya discovered a bunker within the fairway, and will solely advance to only 90 yards from the opening—Herbert with an excellent lead was proper out of that along with his second shot. Deftly utilizing the slope for a two-foot shot, Kanaya hit Herbert with a triple from 18 ft over the opening to lose the match.

Kanaya is 56th, the bottom seeded participant nonetheless taking part in, however not by a lot. And contemplating he will grasp’s in a few weeks, it is not the most important shock.

That may be Richard Bland of England, who at 49 is the oldest participant on the sector and seeded 54 this week. Bland made his Match Play debut by halving his match with Bryson DeChambeau. On Friday, he beat Lee Westwood to win the set.

Final yr, Bland turned the most important winner for the primary time in European Tour historical past. With yet one more match win, he may be heading to his first masters.

“It is simply my time,” Bland mentioned. “That is all I can attribute to it.” “However I’ll take pleasure in it so long as it lasts.”

Will Zalatores, identified for his iron recreation, defeated Victor Hovland along with his racket. Zalatores made photographs from 12 ft within the sixteenth and 18th slots, the newest of which was a 1-up win to equal the Norwegian in group play.

Within the playoff, Zalatoris made a 10-foot jumper on #1 — Hovland made him from 6-footers — and one other 10 ft on #1 to steer.

Dustin Johnson, Kevin Kesner and Terrell Hutton had been amongst 5 gamers who gained all of their video games. Kisner, who gained and took second place within the Match Play, seemed tougher than ever to beat Justin Thomas. Kesner was under-6 by six and shot a 28 on the entrance 9 to take a five-man lead. Thomas closed within the fifteenth gap.

“It needed to be the quantity 10,” Kissner mentioned when requested to charge his efficiency.

He moved on to face Adam Scott, who had no downside beating Jordan Spieth to advance to the weekend for the primary time since 2005. His report is not as dangerous as that means.

“It is arduous to get there once I’m not taking part in in that occasion,” Scott mentioned with a smile.

He hasn’t attended the sport since 2016. He cherished it extra at La Costa, particularly in 2003 when he went 19 holes earlier than dropping to Tiger Woods.