Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the 17th hole during his semi-final in the World Golf Championships Cadillac Match Play in San Francisco, California. (AFP)
AFP/San Francisco
Rory McIlroy produced another grandstand finish, winning the last two holes to defeat Jim Furyk 1-up in the semi-finals of the WGC World Match Play Championship at San Francisco’s Harding Park Golf Club yesterday.
The world number one was trailing by one hole at the 16th after a roller-coaster of a game when he firstly hit his tee-shot to within four feet for birdie at the par-three 17th.
He then drained a 44-foot eagle putt at the last to stun the veteran American, playing in his first World Match Play semi-final at his 16th attempt.
For McIlroy it will be his second World Match Play final having lost to Hunter Mahan in the 2012 championship game.
In the final, McIlroy will play American journeyman Gary Woodland who hit back to defeat England’s Danny Willett in a semi-final no-one expected.
“Well, I wish I didn’t have to finish like that all the time,” said a relieved McIlroy, who is seeking his second tournament win of the year after the Dubai Desert Classic in late January.
McIlroy was the first in action on Sunday, resuming his quarter-final tie against Englishman Paul Casey after the two had been forced to suspend play overnight tied after three fruitless sudden-death extra holes.
The 25-year-old Irishman wasted no time by birdieing the par-five first hole to end what had been a gruelling contest.
Minutes later, McIlroy again birdied the opening hole, but saw Furyk hole from 15 feet for a half, before a par on the third was enough for McIlroy to take the lead.
That was shortlived as McIlroy bogeyed the fourth, but the four-time major winner reclaimed the lead thanks to a birdie on the fifth and looked like moving further ahead when he chipped in from short of the green on the seventh.
However, Furyk followed McIlroy in from 20 feet there and also birdied the eighth, while a par was good enough to move one up at the ninth as McIlroy failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
McIlroy won the 11th and 12th to go back ahead, but he could not hold on to his lead once again as Furyk took the 13th and 15th to edge into the lead.
The American had victory in his sights only for McIlroy to snatch it away from him with two outstanding holes of golf.
In the first semi-final, Willett was two up after four against Woodland in a match opposing the 49th and 52nd seeds in a starting field of 64.
But the big-hitting American produced a brilliant escape from the trees to birdie the sixth, got back on level terms with another birdie on the seventh and took the lead when Willett bogeyed the eighth.
The American kept his nose in front after that and clinched victory with a par at 14 and a birdie at 16.
Park and Thompson share LPGA lead
World number two Park In-Bee had four birdies in a two-under-par 69 on Saturday to grab a share of the LPGA North Texas Shootout lead alongside Lexi Thompson.
Thompson also had four birdies and just one bogey in a 68 as she joined the South Korean star on nine-under 204 after 54 holes.
Canadian 17-year-old Brooke Henderson, who held the first-round lead after qualifying for the field on Monday, had at least a share of the lead much of the day, but faded with two late bogeys in an even par 71. That left her tied for third on eight-under 205, where she was joined by Australian Hall of Famer Karrie Webb (64) and American Angela Stanford (67).
Park shrugged off a bogey at the second with birdies at four and seven. A birdie at 14 saw her tie Henderson for the lead. She was tied with Thompson atop the board when she arrived at 17, falling back with a bogey before a birdie at the par-five 18th at Las Colinas.
“Ball-striking was I think pretty solid,” said the former world number one, whose 13 US LPGA titles include five major championships. “I mis-drove it a couple times and that brought me a little bit of trouble, so I made a couple bogeys,” said Park. “There were birdie chances there that were just so close, but just didn’t go in.”
Thompson, whose four career victories include one major, opened with a birdie at the first. She picked up another shot at the par-five seventh, and gained her first share of the lead with a birdie at the 10th. The 20-year-old tripped to her lone bogey at the 11th, and also birdied 18 for her share of the lead.
