Top 3 golfers in the world struggle at Dell Match Play 2023
Dell Match Play 2023 opened on March 22, bringing together the world's top 64 to compete for a $20 million prize fund at Austin Country Club, Texas. The tournament begins with 16 groups playing round-robin to select the 16 golfers with the highest scores to enter the knockout round, including semi-finals and finals. According to this process, from the starting line to the finish line there will be seven matches.
In the three-match group game, Jon Rahm was eliminated because he won one and lost two, while Scheffler and McIlroy all won. In the "knock-out" phase, Scheffler and McIlroy added another win to get tickets to the quarterfinals. In this round, defending champion Scheffler met Jason Day - owner of the 2015 PGA Championship major, 11 PGA Tour cups and 51 weeks at the top of the world, while McIlroy met Xander Schauffele - a player with seven titles in the US first-class golf arena.
Considering the first 11 holes, Scheffler only equalized once, at hole 3, the rest was led by Day all the time. But Scheffler from a 3-up disadvantage on hole 7 gradually reduced the gap and then leveled the game with a birdie on hole 12. In the next five holes, Scheffler continuously led Day, reaching 2 up with a birdie on hole 17 par3 from a near-hole shot. -in-one.
After hitting the penultimate hole, Scheffler took the ticket to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, McIlroy was led or held by Schauffele for 17 holes. However, McIlroy defeated Schauffele on the 18th hole by taking advantage of the opportunity when the opponent was at a disadvantage.
Par4 final hole, both play in the rough on the left side of the fairway. On the second shot, Schauffele's ball 74 yards from the flag was blocked by the green, and McIlroy was 33 yards from the target. With that position, Schauffele only had to hit low to avoid obstacles and then use the slope to bring the ball to the goal. And then he couldn't finish the hole with a third - put it from the edge of the green.
In contrast, McIlroy scored a birdie after putting the ball 3.6 meters from the hole to claim the 1up win.
In the semi-finals, Scheffler played his best friend Sam Burns, McIlroy faced Cameron Young.
On the PGA Tour, Burns has won four times after 120 awards, while Young has not won the cup after 36 awards. However, Young is a formidable face when last season received the best rookie award, so far he has finished in the top 10 eight times, including the T3 major PGA Championship and the runner-up at The Open, both in 2022. Young's gross now stands at $7.74 million.
