Cal Golf: Max Homa Still Perfect at WGC-Dell Match Play Event
Former Cal golf star Max Homa has the inside track to reach the weekend heading into Friday’s final round of group play at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event at Austin, Texas.
Seeded No. 5 in the 64-player event, Homa won his match for the second straight day in a row, beating Kevin Kisner 3 and 2 and is the only player in his four-man group who is 2-0 through Thursday’s matches.
Homa closes out group play Friday against 18th-seeded Hideki Matsuyama, who split his first two matches.
Ninth-seeded Collin Morikawa needs a win Friday against Jason Day to stay alive after halving his match against Adam Svensson, each winning four holes. Morikawa won the 18th hole to gain a share of the round.
The winner of each of the 16 groups advances to knockout matches on Saturday and Sunday at the Austin Country Club.
Golfers are competing for a share of the total purse worth $20 million.
This is the final WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament with the PGA Tour moving next year to a designated-event schedule that will, not include a match-play event.
Homa, who has climbed to a career-best No. 6 in the official world rankings, won the 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes against 63rd-seeded Kisner to win for the second day in a row.
The 32-year-old, who won the NCAA title while at Cal, is pursuing his third victory this season. He got off to a good start Wednesday with a 3 and 2 win over Justin Suh after winning the 12th 15th and 16th holes.
The winner of his group will matched Saturday after the winner of a group led by 12th-seeded Jordan Spieth, although Taylor Montgomery is the two-day leader in that group after beating Spieth to improve to 2-0.
Morikawa, ranked 11th in the world, beat Victor Perez 2 and 1 in his Wednesday match before halving his duel vs. Svensson.
To advance to the weekend, Morikawa must beat Day, seeded No. 32 and winner of his matches on Wednesday and Thursday.
The winner of his group will be matched Saturday against the winner of a group headlined by No. 8 seed Victor Hovland.
Among other golfers who won on each of the first two days of play are top-seeded Scottie Scheffler, No. 4 Patrick Cantlay and No. 10 Tony Finau.
Cover photo of Max Homa by Dustin Safranek, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo