Young Scot battles world No. 1 to halve
MacIntyre, on brink of upset, takes solace: ‘He threw everything at me’
AUSTIN, Texas — Bob MacIntyre grew up playing the rough-and-tumble Scottish sport of shinty, and he had more than enough fight to give Dustin Johnson all he could handle Thursday in the Dell Technologies Match Play.
Johnson had to rally late with an eagle and a clutch birdie to send the match to the final hole, where both players missed birdie chances and settled for a tie.
Neither the world’s No. 1 player nor the 24-year-old from the tiny town of Oban were sure what to make of it.
“It was a tough match,” Johnson said. “Ended up making a really good halve, and definitely pleased with it.”
MacIntyre, who trailed for most of the front nine at Austin Country Club and led for most of the back nine, walked away with a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment.
Ultimately, both remained in position to advance out of their group to the weekend knockout stage.
“Obviously, I was dying to win that match,” MacIntyre said. “I was in such a great position to do it. But he threw everything at me, and I can be proud of finishing there all square.”
Some of the best in the planet were eliminated on the second day of roundrobin group play.
Justin Thomas, the No. 2 seed, fell behind big on the front nine for the second consecutive day and couldn’t catch up. Thomas made a strong rally against defending champion Kevin Kisner before losing on the 17th hole.
Tyrrell Hatton delivered more highlights — not so much with a shot, but the artful tossing of a club and the sarcastic clapping of his hands — in losing to Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard, whose American home is in Austin, won his second match and thus eliminated Hatton, the No. 8 seed.
Other top seeds in the 16 groups who have no chance to move on were PGA champion Collin Morikawa (4), Tony Finau (12) and Viktor Hovland of Norway (13). In all, 18 players have matches Friday with nothing on the line.
Friday is the final day for groups, and Kisner’s victory set up a win-or-go-home match against Kuchar, a past Match Play champion.
Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer also square off Friday after both won went to 2-0 in their group. Rahm had a harder time than he imagined with British Open champion Shane Lowry, who was 3 down with three holes to play when the Irishman went birdie-birdie to send it to the 18th, and then showed off those great hands with a pitch from under a tree to 12 feet.
He missed the birdie putt and Rahm, who would have had a putt from the same range, smile a sigh of relief.
“He made a heck of a run at the end, man,” Rahm said.