The original 64-player WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play field at Austin Country Club has been pared down to 16 — and it will only get smaller from here. Of the eight matches teeing off on Saturday morning, here are our picks for the three that will be the most exciting.
Rory McIlroy is red-hot this season. He has six top-ten finishes, including a win at the Players Championship. He’s firing on all cylinders this week too, winning all three of his group-stage matches.
Woods’s record isn’t quite as sharp as McIlroy’s this season, with just one top-ten finish, but he did claw his way through the group stage in memorable fashion, winning his Friday match against Patrick Cantlay.
The showdown between McIlroy and Woods is easily the most exciting matchup of the weekend, and we can’t wait to watch. The duo tees off at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Team Europe’s Ryder Cup hero, Francesco Molinari, is looking every bit as sharp this week as he did last September, going 3-0-0 against group members Satoshi Kodaira, Thorbjorn Olesen and Webb Simpson.
Englishman Paul Casey is currently riding the crest of a hot streak, winning last week’s Valspar Championship and going 2-0-1 against Abraham Ancer, Charles Howell III and Cameron Smith. The two Euros are sure to have a good battle, and will begin their match at 8:57 a.m. ET.
Garcia has long been a match-play favorite, and even though he lost one of his three matches this week (Friday’s match against Patrick Reed), his first two wins were enough to get him through the group stage into the Round of 16 — by a half point over Reed and Shane Lowry.
Grace, on the other hand, breezed through the group stage undefeated, beating Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Johnson and Chez Reavie. His best finish this season was runner-up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The two players tee off at 9:52 a.m. ET.
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