World No. 1 Scotty Scheffler (USA) is one step closer to winning the World Golf Championship (WGC) Dell Technologies Match Play (total prize money of $20 million) for the second straight time.
On the 26th (Korean time), on the fourth day of the tournament held at Austin Country Club (par 71) in Austin, Texas, USA, Schaeffler won the round of 16 and the quarterfinals in turn.
Schaeffler, who has won 5 matches in a row following 3 matches in the group stage, competes with Sam Burns (USA) to advance to the final.
If even Burns wins, Schaeffler will reach the finals in this event for the third year in a row.
Schaeffler won runner-up in 2021 and won last year. Schaeffler is attempting to win two consecutive titles in this event for the second time in history after Tiger Woods (USA), who won consecutively in 2003 and 2004.
Schaeffler faced JT Poston (USA) in the round of 16 and had a close battle going all the way to the 18th hole, and Poston narrowly won thanks to a bogey in the 18th hole.
The quarterfinal match against Jason Day (Australia), who won the tournament twice, was a spectacular match in which the 15th to 17th holes had a “match buddy show” in a row.
Scheffler, who was behind by 3 holes to Day, who caught an eagle on hole 6 (par 5), took a breather with Day’s bogey on hole 8 (par 4), then caught 3 birdies to hole 13 and turned the game around.
After Day’s bogey on the 14th hole (par 4) Day’s bogey, Scheffler escaped by two holes, and when Day pulled out a birdie from holes 15 to 17, he also struck back with three birdies in a row and won by two holes.
Day defeated Matt Kucher (USA), the oldest participant in the tournament, by one hole in the round of 16, but could not surpass Scheffler’s momentum.안전놀이터
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) also defeated Lucas Herbert (USA) by 2 holes in the round of 16 and then defeated Zander Chopley (USA) by 1 hole to settle into the semifinals.
McIlroy, who won the event in 2015, will face Cameron Young (USA) in the semifinals.
If both Schaeffler and McIlroy win in the semifinals, the final on the 27th is expected to be the best box office hit ever.
Burns beat Patrick Cantlay (USA) by two holes in the round of 16, then defeated Mackenzie Hughes (Canada) by three holes in the quarterfinals.
Last season, Young, the rookie of the PGA Tour, won the round of 16 against Billy Horshall (USA) by 5 holes and defeated Kurt Kitayama (USA) by 1 hole in the quarterfinals.