The round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Tech Match Play has thrown together a number of exciting encounters. None, though, attracts the attention quite like Rory McIlroy vs Tiger Woods.
READ: Oosthuizen, Grace book place in Last 16
The pair have a rich history, but surprisingly have never met in match play competition.
The Northern Irishman was sublime in winning the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where Woods was among those trying to chase him down.
Woods turned the tables later that year, though, with McIlroy having front row seats to his Tour Championship win at Eastlake.
Now, the high-profile pair meet with a WGC title on the line and bragging rights ahead of The Masters in two weeks.
‘I just hope I put up a better fight than I did in Atlanta last year,’ said McIlroy after progressing to the knockout phase.
‘I didn’t have much of a game that day. But, yeah, look, it’s exciting. It’s exciting for the tournament. I’m sure it’s going to be exciting for us. I feel good about my game.
‘I played well all year. I’ve continued to do that this week. So it will be exciting. It’s definitely going to be one of those ones where I need to go out there and stick to my game plan, and not really look at what he does until I maybe have to towards the end.’
Woods has not matched his Saturday morning opponent’s form in this event. He relied upon, and got, a favour from Aaron Wise, who beat Brandt Snedeker to allow the 80-time PGA TOUR winner to advance after he took care of Patrick Cantlay 4&2.
‘Yeah, you know, I was fortunate enough to have things kind of go my way today,’ said Woods.
‘So I’m very fortunate to move on to have Rory tomorrow morning. That’s going to be a lot of fun. Both of us will be ready for it.’
Last 16 fixtures:
Marc Leishman (17) v Louis Oosthuizen (19)
Kevin Kisner (48) v Haotong Li (36)
Paul Casey (10) v Francesco Molinari (7)
Justin Rose (2) v Kevin Na (57)
Lucas Bjerregaard (50) v Henrik Stenson (37)
Tiger Woods (13) v Rory McIlroy (4)
Tyrrell Hatton (35) v Matt Kuchar (23)
Branden Grace (40) v Sergio Garcia (26)
