Pro Golf Now
Fansided

WGC-Dell Match Play: Five biggest surprises from group play

By Brandon Raper

AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 27: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on in his match against Luke List of the United States during the first round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 27, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 27: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on in his match against Luke List of the United States during the first round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 27, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
WGC-Dell Match Play Rory McIlroy
AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 27: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the eighth tee in his match against Luke List of the United States during the first round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club on March 27, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Rory McIlroy didn’t break a sweat in pool play

First match: 14 holes against Luke List. Wins 5&4

Second match: 16 holes against Justin Harding. Wins 3&2

Third match: 16 holes against Matthew Fitzpatrick. Wins 4&2

I know, I said this was going to be five “surprising” results from group play at the WGC-Dell Match Play. There’s nothing surprising about Rory McIlroy winning, right? After all, he’s been arguably the best player on the planet so far in 2019. He’s even my pick to win the Masters, not that that’s going out on too much of a limb these days. It’s getting a little crowded on the newly-relaunched McIlroy bandwagon, but I’m happy to be aboard anyway.

No, McIlroy’s success isn’t the surprise here. It’s how flipping invincible he’s looked through three matches. The Ulsterman didn’t drop a single hole in the 14 he played against Luke List, winning 5&4. He went a whopping 16 holes against Justin Harding, and he finally lost a hole on No. 9. That’s right, 23 holes of golf before McIlroy lost a single one. He was 2-under in his match against List, and 4-under against Harding. 30 holes, six under par. McIlroy never seemed to so much as break a sweat for two days.

That brings us to the Friday pairing with Matthew Fitzpatrick. Easily the highest-ranked of McIlroy’s pool-mates this week, the Englishman recently finished tied for runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. McIlroy, the defending champ, finished tied for sixth at Bay Hill. I mean, if there was any confidence to gain against Rors, maybe that was it?

Well, not so much. McIlroy was 4-up by the turn and on complete cruise control. Fitzpatrick eagled the par-5 10th to trim the gap to three, then got within two after a birdie on No. 13, but it would have taken a Herculean effort to steal this victory. McIlroy won No. 14, and after Fitzpatrick rinsed his tee shot on No. 16, he conceded the inevitable match.

Next up for Rory is a Saturday pairing with Tiger Woods, but we’ll get to that in a little bit. The first three days have been a pure masterpiece so far by McIlroy.

Home/PGA