Scottie Scheffler has delivered a clutch putt to beat Matt Kuchar and set up an all-American final with Billy Horschel at the World Golf Championships Match Play.
Scheffler, the 24-year-old Texan who feels right at home at Austin Country Club, moved on to the championship match as Horschel knocked out Victor Perez of France with a 3-and-2 victory.
Scheffler holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par three 17th hole, right after Kuchar missed from about 12 feet, to take a one-up lead to the 18th.
The longest putt Kuchar made in the entire match was from three-and-a-half feet on the seventh hole. His lone birdie, from just inside three feet, was conceded.
It’s the 10th time since the World Golf Championship began in 1999 that two Americans have reached the final.
Horschel had never made it to the weekend in his four previous appearances in Match Play.
In a cool, raging wind that allowed holes to be won by pars, he seized on the Frenchman’s mistakes early on the back nine and closed him out with a nifty bunker shot for birdie on the par five 16th.
The match was all square at the turn. Perez bogeyed the 10th to fall behind, and then hit into the water on the 11th and again on the 12th.
“When you play in wind like this, you’ve just got to understand you’re going to hit good shots and not get rewarded for it,” Horschel said.
“It wasn’t one of those days when you go out and can make a lot birdies. … I didn’t play anything special. I just played solid golf and let Victor make a few mistakes.”
Scheffler, coming off dominant wins Saturday over Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm, never trailed against Kuchar.