Tiger vs. Rory highlights Round of 16 at WGC-Dell Match Play

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will give golf fans something they’ve always wanted on Saturday, a head-to-head, winner-takes-all duel.

Tiger Woods’ reward for coming back to win his group at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Friday? A match against the hottest player on the planet.

Woods and Rory McIlroy will go head-to-head in the Round of 16 on Saturday at Austin Country Club after both won their four-man groups. To get to this Saturday showdown, though, they took vastly different paths.

McIlroy blew past his opponents in all three of his matches, beating Luke List 5&4, Justin Harding 3&2 and Matthew Fitzpatrick 4&2 on Friday. The Northern Irishman lost just one of his first 39 holes this week and has yet to have a match last past the 16th hole.

Woods, though, found himself needing help on Friday after losing his second match to Brandt Snedeker on Thursday. Woods had to beat Patrick Cantlay and hope Snedeker lost his match with Aaron Wise. For a while, that seemed like it was going to be a tough task. Woods was two-down to Cantlay thru eight holes but came back to win the ninth, 11th and 12th to take the lead. At the par-four 13th, Woods holed out from 82 yards for an eagle to win the hole and go two-up. He also won the 14th and 16th to win the match 4&2. Wise, meanwhile, helped him out by beating Snedeker 6&4.

McIlroy was still on the course, so Woods was unsure the match was going to take place when he met with the media after his round but admitted the possibility was exciting.

“If it is Rory, we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “We’ve played tournaments together, battled each other down the stretch in events, but never in a match play situation. So this will be fun if it works out.”

A Woods-McIlroy matchup is something that’s tantalized golf fans ever since McIlroy burst onto the PGA Tour nearly a decade ago. The last time they played together with such huge stakes was the final round of the Tour Championship last September when McIlroy shot 74 while Woods shot 71 on his way to his first title in five years.

Since that Sunday meltdown at East Lake six months ago, however, McIlroy has been unstoppable. He’s finished no worse than sixth in any of his six starts on the PGA Tour this season, including a win at the Players Championship two weeks ago. The 29-year-old leads the tour in total strokes gained, strokes gained: off-the-tee and tee-to-green and is fourth in both driving distance and scoring average. He also has a stellar record at match play, winning this event in 2015 and making the final in 2012. He was also a semi-finalist in 2016.

Woods, meanwhile, hasn’t quite matched his form from a year ago yet this season, but he still has three top-25 finishes in his four starts. Playing the match play event for the first time since 2013 this week marks the first time he’s made the Round of 16 since 2008. Back then, he went on to win, becoming the event’s only three-time champion.

The winner of Saturday’s match will go on to face either Lucas Bjerregaard or Henrik Stenson in the quarterfinals. Other players to win their groups on Friday include Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar, Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen.