Jordan Spieth hot in Texas; Jason Day heats up
AUSTIN — Jordan Spieth is glad to be back in Texas.
Jason Day is happy he made it to the first tee.
The top two players in the world moved to 2-0 in pool play in the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play Championship with decisive wins Thursday at gusty Austin Country Club.
World No. 1 Spieth is getting his swing in order as he marches toward defense of his green jacket in the Masters in two weeks, providing proof with a 5 and 4 rout of Victor Dubuisson. Day got his back in order after tweaking it on Wednesday and whipped Thongchai Jaidee, 5-3.
The two are among 13 players who are 2-0 and control their destiny in getting into the Sweet 16 after Friday’s elimination round. Also among the undefeated set is world No. 3 Rory McIlroy, a 3-and-1 winner against Smylie Kaufman.
“My swing has been coming around. I’ve been working hard on it for the last month or so. Really started showing signs of that work this week,” said Spieth, the Dallas native who hasn’t been in contention on Sunday in his last four starts. “Been able to flight the ball nicely. I had one bad swing back on 11, but really played solid golf. ... It’s nice, especially with the ball striking and the wedges. I’m really starting to see that hard work that we’ve been putting in. My ball control is there, especially in this wind. It’s nice to be able to hold posture, hold my alignment and not get too far off.
“ It’s all about the putter now. That’s what still needs more work. That’s what I need to feel a higher level of comfort with. But striking the ball the way that we have thus far is going to win us matches, which is nice, but I would like to roll some putts in as well.”
It was all about the back for Day. After receiving treatment Wednesday and Thursday morning, Day deemed himself fit enough to play. Then he drove the first green with a 3-wood, the 372-yard shot coming to rest 11 feet from the pin. He canned the putt, won the next hole and was in control.
“It’s not too bad. Yesterday it was definitely sore,” said Day, who added that he has a disk problem. “I did a lot of therapy yesterday and made sure I did protocols every hour and felt pretty good. Came out today not really knowing if I was going to play or not. I warmed up very nicely on the range and decided to give it a shot. And I stretched pretty much on every hole.”
McIlroy faces Kevin Na, also 2-0. Their match is one of three that pit undefeated players against each other.
“I guess anytime you come into the match play, you go and you play one match and you try to get through and hopefully you move on to the next and you try to do the same thing,” McIlroy said. “It’s a little bit different tomorrow, knowing that I’m playing Kevin, and you win or you’re heading home. So probably be a little bit more intensity tomorrow.”
Phil Mickelson is 2-0 after a 1-up win against Daniel Berger, who hurt his wrist on his approach shot on the final hole. With the match all square, Berger’s tee shot was left of the fairway near a stand of rocks. Berger nicked the rocks on his downswing and missed the ball. He then conceded the hole.
Mickelson, 45, has beaten Matthew Fitzpatrick, 21, and Berger, 22. Mickelson faces Patrick Reed (2-0), who defeated Fitzpatrick, 4 and 3.
“It's going to be a difficult match,” Mickelson said. “A difficult challenge but a fun challenge. A fun opportunity to play against him. I've got to bring the game that I brought the first day rather than today.”
Chip-in: In one of the day’s most entertaining matches, Ryan Moore chipped in for birdie on the 17th and tapped in for birdie on the 18th to defeat Sergio Garcia, 1 up. The two traded leads throughout the day and were all-square heading to the 17th. After Garcia knocked his tee shot to 5 feet, Moore went just long with his approach but chipped in. Garcia made his putt to halve the hole. On the last hole, Moore knocked his approach from 128 yards to just over a foot.
“Match play is just crazy,” Moore said. “You just never know what's going to happen. I honestly didn't think I hit to bad a shot down 17. The wind carried it over the green there. Honestly I had a great lie. I've hit a lot of great putts all day. I was standing over it thinking something has got to go in eventually.”