Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose both know that their WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play hopes lie in their own hands after remaining undefeated on day two, with Friday set to see the culmination of the group stage that will whittle down the field at the Austin Country Club.
Thursday’s action saw McIlroy record his second straight victory with a 3&2 victory over Justin Harding and the Northern Irishman knows that he will be through to the last-16 if he avoids defeat against Matt Fitzpatrick on day three.
Similarly, Rose can book his place in the knockout stages if he beats Gary Woodland, after securing an unlikely half against Eddie Pepperell with birdies at 15, 17 and 18.
But McIlroy’s planned last-16 showdown against Tiger Woods looks in danger after the former world No 1 lost 2&1 to Brandt Snedeker on Thursday, meaning he will have to defeat Patrick Cantlay and hope that Snedeker slips up against already-eliminated Aaron Wise.
The pick of the rest of Friday’s match-ups sees Jason Day take on Phil Mickelson and an all-English affair between Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton, while in-form Jon Rahm takes on American favourite Matt Kuchar.
Tee-off times in the third round of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Austin Country Club, United States of America
(USA unless stated, all times GMT), (x) denotes amateurs:
Starting at hole 1
2:20pm: Eddie Pepperell (Eng), Emiliano Grillo (Arg)
2:31pm: Jason Day (Aus), Phil Mickelson
2:42pm: Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jim Furyk
2:53pm: Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley
3:04pm: Matt Wallace (Eng), Lucas Bjerregaard (Den)
3:15pm: Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay
3:26pm: Brandt Snedeker, Aaron Wise
3:37pm: Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)
3:48pm: Justin Harding (Rsa), Luke List
3:59pm: Xander Schauffele, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa)
4:10pm: Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Lee Westwood (Eng)
4:21pm: Jon Rahm (Spa), Matt Kuchar
4:32pm: JB Holmes, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
4:43pm: Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia (Spa)
4:54pm: Shane Lowry (Irl), Andrew Putnam
5:05pm: Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
5:16pm: Branden Grace (Rsa), Chez Reavie
5:27pm: Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
5:38pm: Kyle Stanley, Byeong-Hun An (Kor)
5:49pm: Bryson DeChambeau, Marc Leishman (Aus)
6:00pm: Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Russell Knox (Sco)
6:11pm: Tony Finau, Ian Poulter (Eng)
6:22pm: Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell
6:33pm: Brooks Koepka, Alex Noren (Swe)
6:44pm: Haotong Li (Chn), Tom Lewis (Eng)
6:55pm: Paul Casey (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
7:06pm: Charles Howell III, Abraham Ancer (Mex)
7:17pm: Francesco Molinari (Ita), Webb Simpson
7:28pm: Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn)
7:39pm: Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth
7:50pm: Billy Horschel, Kevin Na
8:01pm: Justin Rose (Eng), Gary Woodland
PA
