Louis Oosthuizen was the first of three South Africans to win their match in the second round of the WGC-Dell Match Play on Thursday with a 3&2 victory over Bernd Wiesberger.
The 2010 Open Champion made six birdies during the round, the last of which came off a 13-foot putt at the 17th to end the match. King Louis will face Englishman Andy Sullivan in the final match on Friday, with both players having gone unbeaten thus far.
Charl Schwartzel also claimed a second win after he trumped American Charley Hoffman 3&2 in a dominant performance. The recent Valspar Championship winner didn’t trail throughout the round and, despite reaching the turn all-square, he played regulation golf to win comfortably.
Branden Grace got back to winning ways with a 4&3 thrashing of David Lingmerth, with the young South African leading after the first two holes and never looking back. Despite having one win and one loss Grace has made a single bogey in two rounds and has undoubtedly proven that match play suits him.
Jaco van Zyl was ousted by a superb round from Brooks Koepka, who went 3up after five holes and then put pedal to the metal on the back stretch. Van Zyl will not be able to progress to the weekend with his results of one loss and one draw.
World number one Jordan Spieth continued his run of success with a 5&4 thumping of Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who failed to record a birdie during their match.
‘Been able to flight the ball nicely,’ said Spieth. ‘I had one bad swing back on 11, but really played solid golf. Really thought I’d be five or six up at the turn, and Victor made a couple long putts to tie the holes, but that’s what he does best. Very pleased to get today done with.’
Rory McIlroy trumped Smylie Kaufman 3&1 for his second win of the tournament, while Jason Day beat Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee 5&3.
‘I guess anytime you come into the match play, you go out there with not no expectations, but 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,’ said McIlroy.
