Jon Rahm Falls to Billy Horschel, Other Top Seeds Advance in Match Play

Jon Rahm is officially out of the WGC-Dell Match Play, but the other top six seeds are moving on at Austin Country Club.

On Friday afternoon, Rahm—the No. 2 seed—was taken down by Billy Horschel, who was the only player to never trail in a match throughout the entirety of group play this week. Rahm was also upset earlier in the week by Rickie Fowler, but it was Horschel who came out on top in the competitive group. 

Rahm struggled all day against the No. 22 seed, carding two doubles and a bogey in the 14 holes that the pair completed. Horschel, made three birdies and a bogey to beat Rahm 5 and 4. 

Aside from Rahm, however, five of the six best players in the field advanced to the Round of 16. According to PGA Tour statistics guru Justin Ray, this is the first year that so many top seeds have advanced. Since the most recent format of the WGC-Match Play was implemented in 2015, the event never saw more than three of the top six seeded players move on. 

Additionally, Rory McIlroy was the only European to survive and enter the round of 16. The rest of the group features 12 Americans, two Australians, and a Canadian. 

Ray also pointed out on Twitter that 12 of the 16 players to advance to the bracket portion of the tournament went undefeated in group play. The previous high under this current format was only 8 players. 

Jason Day, a two-time former winner at the PGA Tour’s match play event, is among the group of advancing players. Day took down Collin Morikawa as he continues to enjoy an injury-free season and see upward trends in his swing. 

“It's been an interesting journey over the last two to three years. It will most likely—I'll probably think the same way going all the way through to the end of my career. It's more about the journey and enjoying that process, and then the wins hopefully get in the way,” Day said. 

Next, Day will face Matt Kuchar, who on Friday tied Tiger Woods’ record for the most matches won at the WGC-Dell Match Play (36). 

Like Day, world No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler also went undefeated in group stage play. On Friday, the Texan beat young PGA Tour superstar Tom Kim 3 and 2 to solidify his advancement into the Round of 16. Tomorrow, he’ll take on J.T. Poston. 

“I'm just hoping to continue to play good. I'm not over thinking things. I haven't thought about last year once this week,” Scheffler said.