Cal Golf: Max Homa Advances at WGC Dell Match Play Without Taking the Course

Max Homa never broke a sweat Friday but advanced anyway to the weekend knockout phase of the $20 million WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event in Austin, Texas.

Homa prevailed without swinging a club when Hideki Matsuyama was forced to concede due to neck soreness.

That gave Homa, the 32-year-old Cal grad, his third match-play victory in as many days and moved him through to Saturday’s round of 16.

"It's nice for me -- bogey-free round," said Homa, already twice a winner on the PGA Tour this season. "Would have rather played, but I'll take it as a quasi-win.”

Seeded No. 5 in the event, Homa will face No. 50 Mackenzie Hughes in the first match of the day at Austin Country Club. Their tee time is 5:35 a.m. PT.

If Homa wins, he will take on the winner of the match between Patrick Cantley and Sam Burns in the quarterfinals.

Fellow Cal grad Collin Morikawa, still without a victory since winning The Open in England in July 2021, failed to advance through group play.

Morikawa entered play Friday with 1 1/2 points, having won once and halved a match through Thursday. He needed a victory over Jason Day to advance, but was beaten decisively, losing 4 and 3.

Five top-8 seeds advanced, the most ever since the event was changed to group play in 2015. Also moving on were Scottie Scheffler (1), Rory McIlroy (3), Cantlay (4) and Xander Schauffele (6).

Matt Kuchar also advanced and put his name in the tournament’s record book after winning his 36th match in the event. The 44-year-old tied Tiger Woods in that category after a 7 and 6 win over Si Woo Kim.

"I still find it hard to comprehend that I'm saying that, that I tied one of his records," Kuchar said. "So I'm hugely proud, please. There's 300 more records, I'm sure, to go. But it's a fun one to be able say you've got something you tied Tiger with."

Cover photo of Max Homa by Reinhold Matay, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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