AFTER SECURING THE Players’ Championship in Florida a fortnight ago, Rory McIlroy has now made it two wins from two after the second day of play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
The 29-year-old enhanced his chances of qualifying for the last 16, securing an impressive 3&2 victory over South Africa’s Justin Harding on Thursday in Texas to follow up yesterday’s 5&4 defeat of Luke List.
The 64-player showdown featuring the world ranking leaders at Austin Country Club features three days of group play to determine 16 berths in weekend knockout matches to decide a champion.
“One of the big things over the last couple of days is I’ve been happy with how I’ve responded. I played the shot when I needed to — I holed the putt when I needed to,” he told reporters.
“When I sense a little bit of blood I’m taking my opportunities. Whenever I have to step up and hit a shot on top of a guy I’ve been able to do that really well.”
Fourth seed McIlroy, who won the WGC Match-Play back in 2015, now approaches his final group clash with Matt Fitzpatrick on Friday knowing that a draw with the Sheffield native will book his place in the last 16.
“I feel good. If anything I played a little bit better today than I did yesterday,” McIlroy told Sky Sports.
“Justin put up a really good fight, I’ve never played with him before but he’s a really good player — I can see why he’s done so well this year and got himself into the top 50 in the world.
“I had to play well, I had to make a few birdies just to hang in there on the front nine and to finish with two birdies on 15 and 16 was very nice.”
Murray Kinsella and Bernard Jackman look ahead to a huge weekend for the provinces in Europe and Ryan Bailey catches up with Ian Keatley on the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly:
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