Tiger Woods beats Rory McIlroy at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Tiger Woods pulled off the upset over Rory McIlroy at Match Play.

There is arguably no player more feared in match play events than Tiger Woods. He has an incredible 50-17-2 record all-time in match play. He was able to add to that win total by breaking out of his pod and setting up a match with world number four and arguably the hottest golfer on the planet, Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy came into this weekends event having five top 10 finishes and one win in his last six events.

This was a match that golf fans dream of and while the match wasn’t as sharp as many would have hoped, it was still a fantastic battle down to the 17th hole.

Tiger was able to finish off McIlroy on the par three 17th after almost hitting his tee shot into the hazard. A clutch putt that just slipped inside the left edge for Tiger, set up a quarterfinals match versus up-and-comer, Lucas Bjerregard.

Tiger was in control the entire day. He went one up on hole number five and never looked back. He would add to his lead on the next hole with another birdie, to put him two up. Tiger would go on to grow the lead to three before McIlroy tried to mount a comeback.

“It was a tough match for both of us,” Woods said, via ESPN. “I knew it was going to be a ball-striking match. We were both playing well coming into this match, and the year that Rory has had, he doesn’t do anything poorly.

Two consecutive birdies on 12 and 13 for McIlroy got the lead back to one with only five holes to play. The lead would stay at one until Tiger would claim number 16 growing it back to two. The match ended the next hole on Tiger’s slippery putt.

Tiger would win four of the holes on the day, while McIlroy was only able to claim two. The biggest difference in the match seemed to be that where McIlroy’s putter seemed to fail him all day, Tiger was clutch. He made every putt that mattered when he needed it most.

The quarterfinal round matchup against Bjerregard is one to not be overlooked. Bjerregard advanced by defeating Henrik Stenson, who was red hot going into their match.