Well, that didn't take long. The third match of the 2017 WGC-Dell Match Play brought us one of the biggest possible "upsets" of the week: 62-seeded Soren Kjeldsen taking down No. 2 Rory McIlroy.
We put upsets in quotes, because as we all learned a long time ago, anyone in this field is capable of winning any match. And no one, not even the mighty McIlroy, a former winner of this event who is coming off strong performances in Mexico and Bay Hill, is safe from losing -- especially if an opponent basically hits his three final approach shots to gimme range.
That's what Kjeldsen did on Wednesday, catching fire down the stretch and birdieing his last four holes to win 2 and 1 after McIlroy had grabbed a one-up lead. The final dagger came on the short, par-3 17th at Austin Country Club when Kjeldsen nearly made a walk-off hole-in-one. Check it out:
Thanks to the switch to a round-robin format for the first few days, McIlroy gets to stick around. But he's going to need some help in order to advance. Gary Woodland defeated Emiliano Grillo 3 and 2 in the other Group 2 match on Day 1. The player with the best record of the four will move on to the Round of 16, which begins Saturday. McIlroy will play Woodland on Thursday, while Kjeldsen, fresh off his first win in this event, will take on Grillo.
When asked how he beat the (much) longer-hitting McIlroy, Kjeldsen joked he "didn't watch about half of his shots." Wise move.
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