2021 WGC-Match Play Leaderboard: Who won and who won’t advance

The defending champion has won his first two matches. One of the best Ryder Cup players in recent history has won his first two matches. There are horses for courses. And, quite possibly, cats for formats. Here are three things you need to know after Thursday’s play at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. 

Complete leaderboard here.

Kevin Kisner and Ian Poulter remain perfect 

Kevin Kisner, entering the day, was 15-5-1 in matches at the Match Play, including his six wins on his way to the 2019 title, and his five wins on his way to a runner-up finish in 2018. (Last year’s event was canceled due to the pandemic.) Ian Poulter is 14-6-2 in Ryder Cup matches, and he won this event in 2010. 

“I just really hate losing. It’s so simple,” Poulter said of match play. “There’s only one guy on the golf course that has the opportunity to beat you, and you’re not in control in a stroke-play event. You know, I guess it’s just really simple. Just hole your putts and take care of business, and you can be a real pain in the backside. I love this format. It’s really simple.”

Both Kisner and Poulter were pains in the backside again. 

Kisner was 4-up through seven holes before defeating Justin Thomas 2 and 1, and he’s 2-0 in his pool. Poulter was 3-up with three holes to play before hanging on to defeat Cameron Smith 1 up, and he, too, is 2-0 in his pool. 

“I really enjoy the one-on-one competitive nature of the event,” Kisner said. “I really like knowing what I have to do on every shot compared to a four-day event. I kind of get lost in the motions sometimes when it’s a Friday morning or Friday afternoon and everything’s not going perfect. I think you got to grind all 18 holes and that keeps my head in the game.”

Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa eliminated 

Among the players who were eliminated Thursday despite one more match to play on Friday are second-seed Thomas, four-seed Collin Morikawa, eight-seed Tyrrell Hatton, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Louis Oosthuizen, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day. 

Among the winners on Thursday were Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson halved his match with Robert McIntyre, and Jordan Spieth and Matthew Wolff split their match.    

Bryson DeChambeau hits a drive 46 yards 

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Bryson DeChambeau averages a PGA Tour-best 320 yards off the tee this season. 

His drive on the 10th was 274 yards short of that. 

DeChambeau, trying to cut a corner and drive the 395-yard par-4, hit a tree limb and the ball ricocheted out to the right and 46 yards forward. He’d lose the hole, but three of the last four to defeat Si Woo Kim 2 and 1. 

“I heel-pulled it lower than I wanted, came off low off the face, came out low — I could have easily cleared the trees up and over like I wanted to, but I hit it on the wrong part of the face and consequently hit the tree limb,” DeChambeau said. “Hey, look, I was trying to drive the green, whether it was the practice green or the 10th green. I got it close.”