Rory McIlroy holds off Zach Johnson to reach last eight of WGC-Dell Match Play
Saturday 26 March 2016 20:57, UK
Rory McIlroy remained on course to successfully defend a title for the first time in his career as he held off Zach Johnson to reach the quarter-finals of the WGC-Dell Match Play.
McIlroy matched Johnson's brave birdie at the last to clinch a 1up victory and set up a last-eight clash with surprise package Chris Kirk, who earned a 2&1 win over the in-form Bill Haas.
The defending champion was all square with Johnson with six to play after the American matched McIlroy's birdie at 11 from 35 feet and saved par at the 12th despite hitting his approach into water, but Johnson then made costly errors with his approaches to the 13th and 15th and lost both holes to par.
Johnson pulled one back at the long 16th after McIlroy pulled his ambitious second into the crowd and could not get up and down, and the Northern Irishman could have been forgiven for thinking he had closed out the match when he knocked a sublime wedge to inside four feet at the last.
But the Open champion asked the question when he rolled in a superb 20-foot putt for birdie, although McIlroy was up to the challenge as his putt for the win found the bottom of the cup.
"Zach really doesn't give you anything," said McIlroy, who admitted he will need to be more aggressive if he is to retain his title. "We probably didn't make as many birdies out there as we should have. He hits it in the water on 12, makes his par, then he gets it up and down at 16 for birdie to get it back to one. He just hung in there.
"We both really didn't have our best stuff, but I definitely produced it when I needed it on the last. I would have liked to play better, but I played a little bit better than Zach and that's what I needed to do.
"I made some birdies but made a few mistakes, so I'm just happy to be through to the quarter-finals and hopefully the standard of my golf can go up another level."
Asked what he needed to work on, McIlroy added: "I guess I've got to convert a little bit better. I missed a couple of putts and I gave away two or three really soft holes. You can't do that in match play, especially at this stage. I need to play the par-threes a little better, as well.
"My par-three playing hasn't been great this week, I've been a little conservative with my lines. At this stage of the game you need to be aggressive, so I'm going to go out and fire at pins and make as many birdies as I can."
