Johnson stays perfect at Match Play, Mcilroy out
No 1 Dustin Johnson continued his perfect record at the WGC-DELL Match Play on Thursday while No 2 Rory Mcilroy was eliminated without even setting foot on the course.
On an extremely windy afternoon at Austin Club with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), Johnson coped manfully with the elements to beat German Martin Kaymer 3&2.
Despite two wins from two matches, Johnson was not guaranteed of advancing out of the group stage. He must win or halve his match against compatriot Jimmy Walker to be certain of advancing to the final 16.
After losing to Dane Soren Kjeldsen on Wednesday, Mcilroy got a win on Thursday when his scheduled opponent Gary Woodland withdrew.
Even with that walkover, however, Mcilroy still needed Kjeldsen to lose his second match to have any chance of advancing out of the round-robin group stage.
But Kjeldsen duly shut the door on Mcilroy by beating Argentine Emiliano Grillo 4&3 on Thursday to improve to 2-0-0.
legend Nicol David reached the quarterfinals of the British Open on Thursday and then rubbished suggestions that she might retire any time soon.
The 33-year-old former world No 1 from Malaysia beat Joey Chan, the world No 17 from Hong Kong, 11-4, 14-12, 9-11, 11-2 and made it clear afterwards that her motivation was as great as ever.
“I still love the game passionately and deeply and I will play as long as I can,” she said.
SPURS DOWN GRIZZLIES, RAPTORS BEAT HEAT
Aldridge scored 23 points and Kawhi Leonard added 19 to power San Antonio over visiting Memphis 97-90 on Thursday, moving the Spurs within two games of Golden State.
Spurs improved to 55-16 , staying within range of the pace-setting Warriors (57-14) with 11 games remaining.
Demar Derozan scored 40 points to help Toronto Raptors stretched their win streak to four games as they beat the Miami Heat 101-84.