Tiger Woods Stuns Rory Then Gets Stunned

It was a long, shocking day on Saturday in the high winds at Austin Country Club.

The WGC Match Play was its usual self with favorites long gone and a round of 16 that turned in some shockers then a round of eight that produced some more.

All eyes were on the Tiger Woods-Rory McIlroy showdown, the most anticipated match of the tournament.  Rory was his usual self — spectacular drives and a less-than-steller short game that saw Tiger Woods take advantage.  A missed short putt from three feet at the 10th sent McIlroy three-down to Tiger and it looked like it would be all Tiger in their contest.

But Rory fought back with birdies at 12 and 13 to get himself back to 1-down then on 16 the match would take a turn that absolutely no one saw coming.

Woods drove into the left fairway bunker, his ball plugged and all the could do was blast out.  In the meantime, McIlroy pumped one 395 down the middle and with the wind at his back, had nothing more than pitching wedge into the green.  Woods reached the green in three from 215 but looked like the best he could do was two-putt for par.  Rory looked a cinch to square the match.

That’s when McIlroy hit a devil-ballish shot that sliced 30 yards, with a wedge mind you, and found a strange lie just outside a greenside bunker.  McIlroy terribly misjudged his pitch from there, sent it sailing over the green, up against railroad ties that act as a boundary.  He had nowhere to drop and went back to his original, bad spot where he botched his third.  His fifth fell short in another bunker and he’d end up conceding the hole to Woods in a total shocking scene.

Woods sent Rory packing on the short 17th after recovering from a tee shot that barely stayed out of the left hazard.  He holed a nice 12-footer for par to end it, 2-and-1.  McIlroy was visibly ticked off afterward and refused to talk to the media.

In the afternoon, Woods took on rising European star Lucas Bjerregaard and found himself with a tough opponent.  Woods held the advantage most of the front nine and made the turn 1-up.  He was able to keep things under control until the 16, which bit him this go-round.  Woods hooked his tee shot badly, the large crowd kept his ball from ending up in a hazard far left of the fairway.  He’d scramble his way to a par but Bjerregaard’s birdie squared the match and it stayed that way going to 18, where players could drive close to the green.

Both Woods and Bjerregard found themselves in the left rough, inside 60 yards.  From 52, Woods dumped his approach into a bunker short of the green, his opponent played a conservative pitch and left himself 17 feet for birdie.  An easy two-putt left Woods stalking a four-footer to send the match into extra holes.  It was then the biggest gasp of the day came when Woods missed the putt to lose the match.  Woods said he didn’t hit a bad putt, but simply misread it.

There was controversy in the round of eight and of course, Sergio Garcia was in the middle of it.  Huge surprise.  On the seventh hole, Garcia has a 10-footer to win the hole but it missed and stopped within four inches from the hole.  Before Kuchar could concede the putt, Garcia quickly backhanded it, it lipped out and Garcia, per the walking rules official, lost the hole.  Things were testy from that point on and Kuchar wound up with a 2-up win to make the final four.

Justin Rose, the world’s second-ranked player, got bounced by pesky Kevin Na in the round of 16.

The final four?

Francesco Molinari, Kevin Kisner, Kuchar and Bjerregaard.

Molinari, who showed his match play prowess at the Ryder Cup, take on Kisner, who lost badly in the final to Bubba Watson last year while Kuchard meet Bjerregaard in the morning semifinals.

Just another day at good old match play.

Match Play Round Of 16, Round of 8: