Garcia aces his Match Play playoff
Needing to win the final hole to advance, Bob MacIntrye drilled a driver to 3 feet of the cup on the 371-yard 18th hole. Moments later, Sergio Garcia ended one of the record eight sudden-death playoffs with a hole-in-one.
Already the most fickle event in golf, the Dell Technologies Match Play on Friday in Austin, Texas was an endless frenzy.
Kevin Na lectured Dustin Johnson about not waiting for a putt to be conceded — 6 inches — and then birdied the last two holes to oust the No. 1 player in the world. Patrick Cantlay, practically flawless with 14 birdies and an eagle over two days, managed only two birdies and lost a playoff with a three-putt.
When it finally ended, Jon Rahm at No. 3 was the only player from the top 20 seeds who made it to the knockout stage of the weekend at Austin Country Club.
Garcia beat Lee Westwood in the longest of the eight playoffs with a 9-iron from 161 yards to a front pin on the par-3 fourth hole that landed just beyond the pin and trickled back into the cup.
Equally stunning was the drive of MacIntyre, the 24-year-old from Scotland. He was 1 down against Adam Long, who was poised to advance with Johnson in the group ahead about to lose to Na.
Johnson backed away from his 6-foot par putt — Na only had 4 feet for birdie — and his caddie, brother Austin, stepped in a few feet from the cup to help read the putt. Out of nowhere, a ball shot up the left side of the bank around the green and rolled in front of the caddie’s feet.
Dustin had to mark MacIntyre’s ball so he could putt. MacIntyre was oblivious to what happened except he knew he hit the shot of his life.
His only chance was a low bullet, and it caught the downward slope for extra run toward the left side of the green, which MacIntyre couldn’t see. He heard it was on the green.
PGA Tour
Rafael Campos, Fabrizio Zanotti and Justin Suh shared the second-round lead in the windy Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Campos had a bogey-free 3-under 69 to match Zanotti and Suh at 7-under 137.
Zanotti shot a 68. Suh, the former USC star, had a 69.
Tyler Duncan (69) and Joel Dahmen (71) were a stroke back.
LPGA Tour
Michelle Wie West missed the cut in her first tournament in nearly two years while Inbee Park headed into the weekend still holding a one-stroke lead at the Kia Classic in Carlsbad.
Wie West shot a 2-over 74 at Aviara, an improvement of seven strokes from her opening-round 81 to finish at 11-over 155..
Park carded a 3-under 69 for a two-round total of 9-under 155 and a onestroke lead over Sophia Popov, who shot 68 for the second straight day. Mel Reid carded a 70 and was three strokes off the lead.