From Rory’s walk-off tee shot to a rookie’s upset of Spieth, the highlights from Day 2 in Austin

MATCH OF THE DAY

Taylor Montgomery was a forward on the basketball team at Foothill High School in Henderson, Nevada, from 2011-13, and that athletic experience came in handy in Thursday’s second round at Austin Country Club.

That’s because the atmosphere in his match against Jordan Spieth, who brought an NCAA title to Austin as a member of the University of Texas golf team, reminded Montgomery of playing in a visiting arena.

“I love that stuff. I grew up playing basketball. I was the away team quite a bit, so I'm kind of used to it,” Montgomery said after his 2-and-1 win over Spieth.

It was a tight match that featured the usual Spieth magic, especially at the par-3 seventh, where Spieth’s tee shot bounced off a fan’s phone and into the trees. Spieth chipped out 30 feet past the hole, then made the comebacker to maintain a 1-up lead.

Montgomery sandwiched birdies on 8 and 10 around Spieth’s own birdie on the ninth hole, and Spieth regained the lead with his birdie at 12. He bogeyed the next two holes, however, to give Montgomery his first lead since the opening hole.

Montgomery birdied the 15th to win his third consecutive hole. He bogeyed the par-5 16th but a 6-foot birdie putt on 17th secured the win. Montgomery’s win over a former FedExCup champ and three-time major winner continues an impressive rookie season. He played his way into this week’s field with eight top-25s in his 14 starts, including four top-10s. He’s 18th in the FedExCup.

A victory over Mackenzie Hughes (50) on Friday will secure Montgomery a spot in the Round of 16, where he has just one request.

“Hopefully I don't play any more Texan guys like Scottie where I have to hear "hook 'em" the entire round,” Montgomery chuckled.

BIGGEST UPSET

They say never meet your heroes. What about beating them in match play? Now you can now ask Justin Suh, the second-to-last man in the field. The 25-year-old rookie took down Hideki Matsuyama (18), 3 and 1, to move to 1-1-0 on the week.

“It's always an honor to play with (Matsuyama). I know how big of a deal he is,” Suh said. “I grew up watching him.”

Suh got an up-close view Thursday, although neither he nor Matsuyama had their best game. Matsuyama carded more bogeys (4) than birdies (3), and Suh was able to do play steady enough to take advantage. A pair of birdies came at crucial points, the first at the fourth hole to give Suh a 1-up lead and again on the 15th to stretch his lead to 2-up. Suh made par on the 17th to Matsuyama’s bogey, one of four times that sequence happened. But in match play, it doesn’t matter how the wins come, especially against one of your idols.

BEST COMEBACK

Rory McIlroy called game.

It wasn’t enough that the No. 3 player in the world had already climbed out of a 3-down deficit after six holes. Standing on the 18th tee with a 1-up lead over Denny McCarthy, McIlroy only needed a push to finish off the comeback.

That wouldn’t have been much fun though, right?

Teeing off first, McIlroy wailed on his newly revamped driver and sent a towering shot on a line that never left the pin. Still, he thought there was no way it would reach the green. Ten or 20 yards short, he thought. Nope. Try landing it on the green and rolling it all the way to the back pin. A 375-yard drive that settled less than 4 feet from the hole.

Ball game.

“I'm really proud of myself that I hung in there after being three down early and clawing it back and producing the shots that I did over the last few holes to ultimately get the job done,” McIlroy said of his 2-and-1 win over McCarthy.

It was fitting way to end the match, which saw both players trading birdies and eagles. McCarthy made three birdies in the first five holes and added an eagle at the sixth that momentarily gave him a 3-up lead. McIlroy answered on the next hole, the par-3 seventh, jarring a 32-foot birdie put to win his first hole of the match. Bogeys on Nos. 8 and 10 from McCarthy pushed the match back to a tie. It stayed that way until the par-5 16th. Both players had a chance to get up-and-down for birdie. McIlroy did after another marvelous shot from long distance. He two-putted from the fringe after his 236-yard second shot settled 18 feet away. McCarthy couldn’t match. That set up the fireworks at the last, which even McIlroy couldn’t help but marvel at.

“There's certainly a lot of other ways to make birdie on that hole without having to do that,” McIlroy said. “But, yeah, it was a great swing and it was great time to do it.”

BIGGEST MARGIN

It’s hard to find a larger contrast over the first two days at Austin Country Club than in Keegan Bradley’s matches.

Bradley never led in his opening-round tie against Denny McCarthy, falling as far as 4-down with five to play. He needed a birdie-eagle-par-birdie finish just to eek out the tie on the 18th green.

He called it “monster” walking off the green, knowing that tie could mean the difference between playing the weekend or going home.

Turns out, “monster” was quite the apt word to describe Bradley’s second match too, although for completely different reasons.

Bradley birdied his first two holes to jump out a 2-up lead that he never lost. Another birdie at the fifth and an eagle on the par-5 sixth signaled the route was on. Bradley (20) beat Scott Stallings (52), 6 and 5.

A monstrous performance.

“I said to my caddie, … this is what it feels like to win one of these matches. It's just been so long. I've tied a billion of 'em,” Bradley said. “I played really well today and, geez, it felt good to win a match.”

Bradley can advance to the Round of 16 with a win over McIlroy on Friday.

HEADLINES

Rahm’s rebound: After an uncharacteristically bad putting performance led to an opening-round loss to Rickie Fowler on Wednesday, Jon Rahm (2) recorded five birdies and an eagle on the way to a 4-and-3 win over Keith Mitchell (39) to keep his hopes alive.

Rahm won the first hole after Mitchell’s three-putt. Then Rahm birdied the par-5 sixth hole, made a 14-footer for birdie on the ninth, a 10-foot birdie putt on 11 and a 14-foot eagle putt on the 12th to take a 4-up lead and all but secure the victory.

“The biggest difference was on the greens. … That’s what cost me (yesterday’s) match, plain and simple,” Rahm said. “Today, it was kind of the opposite, right, we were pretty even up until 8, and then 9, 11, 12, I make those putts and I suddenly have a (four-hole) lead.”

Rahm will need to beat Billy Horschel (22), who leads Group 2 with 1.5 points, on Friday to have a chance to advance to the Round of 16. Horschel won this event two years ago while Rahm was the 2017 runner-up.

Watch out for Scottie: When Scottie Scheffler is playing well, there aren’t many that can beat him. If his wins at the WM Phoenix Open and The PLAYERS Championship earlier this year weren’t evidence enough, Scheffler’s 5-and-4 win over Alex Noren (50) provided yet another reminder.

The No. 1 player in the world carded seven birdies and no bogeys to overwhelm Noren, who was also bogey-free but simply couldn’t keep up with Scheffler’s torrid pace. There’s no shame in that, especially when Scheffler’s making birdies at a 50% clip.

“Yesterday I made too many mistakes, I think, and today I just went out and played solid,” Scheffler said.

If that’s Scheffler’s version of “solid” golf, the rest of the field should be worried what it looks like if he really turns it on. Unfortunately for the field, that switch might have already flipped weeks ago. Scheffler’s run-up to winning last year’s WGC- Dell Technologies Match Play is stunningly similar to this year. Swap out his win at TPC Sawgrass this year for his win at Bay Hill and the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and it’s darn near identical. He’s already defended the WM Phoenix Open this year and almost did so a few weeks ago at Bay Hill, finishing fourth. Now he’s making a run at going back-to-back in Austin, the home of his alma mater.

That’s a problem for anyone standing in his way.

Scheffler will advance out of group play with a win or tie against Tom Kim (17) on Friday.

The unbeaten: The players who are 2-0 and control their destiny on Friday: Scottie Scheffler (Group 1), Rory McIlroy (Group 3), Patrick Cantlay (Group 4), Brian Harman (Group 4), Max Homa (Group 5), Xander Schauffele (Group 6), Andrew Putnam (Group 7), Si Woo Kim (Group 8), Jason Day (Group 9), Tony Finau (Group 10), J.J. Spaun (Group 11), Taylor Montgomery (Group 12), Sam Burns (Group 13), Lucas Herbert (Group 14), Cameron Young (Group 15) and J.T. Poston (Group 16)

The winless: The players who have lost each of their opening two matches: Alex Noren (Group 1), Scott Stallings (Group 3), K.H. Lee (Group 4), Nick Taylor (Group 4), Kevin Kisner (Group 5), Tom Hoge (Group 6), Will Zalatoris (Group 7), Viktor Hovland (Group 8), Victor Perez (Group 9), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Group 10), Sahith Theegala (Group 11), Shane Lowry (Group 12), Adam Hadwin (Group 13), Tyrrell Hatton (Group 14) and Sepp Straka (Group 15).

MARQUEE MATCHUPS

Billy Horschel (22) vs. Jon Rahm (2), 2:30 ET: Horschel looks to advance to the knockout round for the third consecutive time, but will need to beat the red-hot Rahm to get there.

Rory McIlroy (3) vs. Keegan Bradley (20), 1:13 ET: The momentum is riding high as both players are coming off impressive Thursday wins. Winner advances to the Round of 16.

Max Homa (5) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (18), 10:06 ET: Both still have a shot to advance. Homa needs a win or a tie. Matsuyama must win.

Scottie Scheffler (1) vs. Tom Kim (17), 11:45 ET: Kim got the best of Scheffler back at the Presidents Cup, but that was in Foursomes. The PGA TOUR Player of the Year against the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice on TOUR before turning 21. Must-see TV.

Patrick Cantlay (4) vs. Brian Harman (25), 10:50 ET: Harman beat Cantlay in a playoff at this event in 2021 to go to the knockout round. Can he do it again?