The Asian challenge at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play ended in the group stage with all five golfers – Si Woo Kim, Sungjae Im, Joohyung Kim, KH Lee and Hideki Matsuyama – bowing out on Friday.
Entering the final round-robin group matches, Si Woo Kim was the best placed to advance after garnering two impressive wins in Group 8 but he fell to a 7 and 6 defeat to American veteran star Matt Kuchar, who tied Tiger Woods’ tournament record of having the most match victories at 36.
Related: Si Woo Kim lone bright spot for Asia in Dell-Matchplay
Kim, a four-time PGA TOUR winner, dropped five bogeys in his first eighth holes and made the turn 5-down, before Kuchar, winner of the event in 2013 and runner-up in 2019, closed out the match on the 12th green at Austin Country Club.
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Sungjae Im was the day’s lone victor as he earned a second win of the week following a 4 and 3 triumph over Europe’s Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood but the effort proved futile as American JT Poston safely advanced from Group 16 by securing his third victory with a 3 and 1 win over Maverick McNealy.
Joohyung Kim, making his first appearance in the event, needed to beat defending champion Scottie Scheffler to force a playoff in Group 1 but the American World No. 1 proved too good as the home favourite produced a 3 and 2 victory to advance into the Round of 16.
Making his debut, KH Lee endured a disappointing week in the US$20 million showpiece following a third successive defeat, going down 3 and 2 to Nick Taylor while Matsuyama withdrew prior to his final group match against Max Homa due to a recurring neck injury which had limited his preparation this week.
“I experienced some stiffness in my neck this morning while warming up at the range, preventing me from making a full swing. As a precautionary measure, I decided to concede my match to Max and rest before moving on to the Valero Texas Open next week,” said Matsuyama, who had won his opening Group 5 match against Kevin Kisner.
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The 44-year-old Kuchar, a nine-time TOUR winner, was delighted to tie Woods’ record at the Dell Technologies Match Play. “Certainly very cool. Getting a chance to tie any record of Tiger’s is an amazing thing. That’s something I still find it hard to comprehend that I’m saying that, that I tied one of his records. So I’m hugely proud, pleased. There’s 300 more records, I’m sure, to go, but it’s a fun one to be able to say you’ve kind of got something you tied Tiger with,” said Kuchar, who faces a resurgent Jason Day in the Round of 16.
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Reigning FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy was amongst the top seeds to advance into the single elimination rounds this weekend and faces Australia’s Lucas Herbert on Saturday morning.
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World No. 2 Jon Rahm was the biggest name to make an early exit following a 5 and 4 loss to 2021 champion Billy Horschel.
