Jason Day will meet Rory McIlroy in the semi-final of the WGC-Dell Match Play after wins over Brandt Snedeke and Brooks Koepka, which returned the Australian to World Number 1.
Jason Day will meet Rory McIlroy in the semi-final of the WGC-Dell Match Play after wins over Brandt Snedeke and Brooks Koepka, which returned the Australian to World Number 1.
"I’m going to have a lot of fun regardless of what happens
tomorrow. But I expect a really, really tough match in the morning against
Rory," said Day.
"He has been playing good golf and he has been No. 1 in the
world for a long period of time when he was up there and he’s a tough
competitor."
"To be Number 1 in the world is fantastic. The next step is
try to get into tomorrow’s round. I know I have a tough one tomorrow and I’m
looking forward to it."
Day’s undefeated week, despite suffering from back pains,
continued with a three and two victory over Snedeker in a round that included
four birdies before an eagle on the 16th hole sealed the victory.
Day birdied the third hole to take an early lead then
briefly trailed thru six when Koepka posted back-to-back birdies at five and
six for wins.
He continued his flawless play with birdies at the eighth
and 10th holes and added an eagle at the par-5 12th hole, holing a putt from 11
feet to move to two up.
A par for a win at 15 left Day three up with three holes to
play and he closed the match with another par on 16 to defeat Koepka three and
two to seal his meet with McIlroy in the semifinals
"Rory is going to be a tough opponent tomorrow. It seems
like he’s hitting it great. He always hits it the great. Seems like he’s got
the putter going, as well," said Day.
"It’s definitely going to be a difficult match tomorrow
morning. It’s going to be a difficult match in the afternoon regardless. But I
think it’s going to be an exciting match, too. I’m looking forward to being
able to play against Rory, especially in this format, we don’t get to do that
too much."
This will be the second time McIlroy has faced an Australian
opponent in this event, losing to Geoff Ogilvy, two and one, in the
quarter-finals in 2009.
Day will be looking to join Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogivly as only players with multiple Dell Match Play victories to their name.
Day and McIlroy will face-off in the WGC-Dell Match Play
Semifinals at 9:00am local US time.