Scheffler, McIlroy advance to Match Play semifinals
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler twice had to rally from deficits to win both matches and reach the semifinals of the WGCDell Technologies Match Play for the third straight year. Rory McIlroy joined him by making 17 birdies in two matches that went the distance.
Sam Burns, who will meet Scheffler, advanced by beating Patrick Cantlay in 17 holes and then overcoming an early deficit at Austin (Texas) Country Club to beat Mackenzie Hughes of Canada, 3 and 2.
The fourth semifinalist, Cameron Young, looked as if he had an easy time, until it wasn't. He was 3 up at the turn, missed a chance to go 4 up on the 12th and then had to go to the 18th hole before he could dispatch of Bay Hill winner Kurt Kitayama.
Scheffler, who lost in the final in his Match Play debut in 2021, now has won 10 straight matches. He was 2 down against J.T. Poston in the morning with five holes left when he birdied the 17th to square the match and won the 18th with a par.
He was 3 down against former Match Play champion Jason Day through seven holes when he battled back, taking his first lead with a birdie on the 13th and then pulling away. He closed it out with a wedge to 2 inches on the 17th.
McIlroy, who beat Lucas Herbert of Australia in the fourth round, never led against Xander Schauffele in the quarterfinals until the final hole. They were all square going to the 18th, when McIlroy made a 12foot birdie.
Next up for McIlroy is Young, who has made 31 birdies and two eagles in his five matches this week.
PGA Tour
Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark played bogey-free for a 6-under 66 and shared the lead with tour rookie Sam Stevens in the Corales Punta Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Stevens twice had the lead down the stretch on the Corales course until a wobbly finish, making bogey on the 16th, answering with a birdie on the par-3 17th and then missing the 18th green for a closing bogey and a 68.
They were at 14-under 202, one shot ahead of a large group that included 36-hole leader Matt Wallace of England, Thomas Detry of Belgium and Tyler Duncan.
LPGA Tour
Celine Boutier of France had an eagle and six birdies in a round of 7-under 65 and moved atop the leaderboard in the third round of the Drive on Championship in Gold Canyon, Ariz.
Boutier made an eagle 3 on the par-5 second hole and added two birdies that offset a bogey at the par-3 eighth. She played the back nine in 4 under for a 16-under 200 overall total and a one-stroke lead over three others heading into today's final round.
There are 17 golfers within three shots of the lead after nine posted rounds of 7- to 9-under par in a birdie-filled Saturday.
Moriya Jutanugarn (69), American Alison Lee (67) and South Korea's Hae Ran Ryu (64) were tied for second at 15 under.