Justin Thomas continued to plough his way to the No 1 in the world ranking as he joined Alex Noren, Bubba Watson and Kevin Kisner in the WGC-Dell Match Play semi-finals.
Thomas is one win away after beating Kyle Stanley in the quarters. The reigning FedExCup champ —already leading this year’s standings — came up a 2&1 winner over his countryman.
He fell behind early thanks to a bogey on the second hole, but after halving the fifth hole with a birdie, Thomas followed with a two-putt birdie on the sixth to square the match. The three-hole stretch after the turn was the decisive stretch. Stanley’s bogey at the 10th was followed by Thomas’ birdie from 24 feet at the 11th, then by another Stanley bogey at the 12th when he three-putted which saw Thomas go three-up.
From there, the world No 1 in waiting stayed out of trouble to set up the Alabama-Georgia showdown against Watson.
‘That putt on 15 was huge after just a terrible wedge, another terrible wedge shot and a pretty bad putt as well,’ said Thomas.
‘To have about a 6, 7-footer on the read that I’d already missed two of, about half a ball to a ball out to the right. And twice I hit it too hard when I was reading it with softer speed. So it’s funny how that always happens. You have a putt late in the round when you need it and it’s a putt that you haven’t had success with earlier in the day.
‘If I miss that, he’s got all the momentum in the world and I’m only 1-up with three to go, and he could win the match outright, let alone an extra hole. To make that putt to stay 2-up with three to go was huge.’
Thomas will play Watson in the semi-finals after the lefty comfortably beat Kiradech Aphibarnrat 5&3.
Two Aphibarnrat bogeys followed by two Watson birdies during a four-hole stretch on the back nine proved to be the difference, as Watson reached the semifinals for the first time since his first Match Play appearance in 2011.
Both players started strong, combining for seven birdies in the first six holes. That match was all square at the turn but then Aphibarnrat found the primary rough with his approach at 10, resulting in a bogey. He followed by three-putting at 11. Watson then had a two-putt par at the par-five 12th and rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt at 13 and suddenly he was four-up. Watson hit his approach at the 15th to nine feet and Aphibarnrat eventually conceded the hole and the match.
‘It was a great match, ‘ said Watson, looking for his second title of 2018.
‘And then number nine I fatted it in the hazard with a lob wedge in my hand. And then — if it was stroke play, I told Ted, if it was stroke play — I’m good friends with Kiradech, and he fatted it on 10. And I would have went over and said, “Don’t copy me, man”. But since we’re playing match play, I didn’t think he would think it was as funny as I did. So he bogeyed there, he gave me a hole. I gave him one on nine, he gave me one on 10.
‘We had difficult putts, him being the first putter on 11, putted it seven feet from the hole, so he missed that and I two-putted. Hitting that bunker shot on 12, two-putt again from 40 feet, 50 feet for birdie.
‘And then making birdie on a tough hole, 13. So real fast. You have the pressure, you’re trying to focus on your shots, and then within minutes, it feels like you’re cruising to victory. It was one of those things, it could have went either way. And today I made putts and I got the breaks going my way. I didn’t three-putt when I needed a two-putt.’
Sweden’s Noren continued his dominant play with another methodical 4&2 win, this time over Australia’s Cameron Smith, to advance to the semi-finals.
‘I’ve always liked match play because I think it’s very — the outcome is quite direct,’ said Noren. ‘Four days, sometimes it can — you can go through holes that maybe mentally you’re a little bit out of it and then you get into it when it’s 72 holes.
‘In match play, you’ve just got to be really focused all the time and anything can happen. And then you have to play good each round. You can’t just give up a round and then think you’ve got three more.
‘Maybe that’s what I need to do in stroke play, as well, not give a round away. I’ve always liked it. You can be a little bit more aggressive,’
Noren will play Kisner, who romped past Ian Poulter 8&6.
Poulter, who won this event in 2010, looked strong in Saturday morning’s win over Louis Oosthuizen but he offered little resistance in the afternoon. The margin of victory has been exceeded just four times in tournament history and is the largest win this week. Starting with a Poulter three-putt bogey at the third hole, Kisner won five consecutive holes, needing only two birdies in that stretch with the match heading one way.
Photo: PGA TOUR
