Staff Reporter.
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France’s Victor Perez is the sole European in the WGC Matchplay semi-finals after he beat Sergio Garcia 4&3 and Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm lost.
Fleetwood missed a 10-foot putt to win on the 18th against Billy Horschel and then lost at the first extra hole after hitting his tee shot out of bounds.
Perez will play Horschel in the first of Sunday’s semi-finals.
Scottie Scheffler, a 3&1 winner over Rahm, takes on Matt Kuchar after he beat fellow American Brian Harman 2&1.
Fleetwood was never behind against Horschel until losing the 19th hole. He was one ahead after nine and then won the 11th with a par three.
But he lost the 12th after hitting his second shot into the water and looked set to also lose the driveable par-four 13th after again finding water. However, Horschel, who had played safe with an iron into the fairway, took four shots from 85 yards and the hole was halved in bogey fives.
Fleetwood retained his slender advantage until the 17th, but Horschel holed an eight-foot birdie putt to win the hole.
On the last, Fleetwood had a putt to win the hole and match but his effort missed by a couple of inches.
And on the first extra hole, the par-five 12th, Fleetwood pulled his drive way left and although he scrambled a six, Horschel rolled in a three-footer for par.
Before their quarter-final, Garcia said of his good friend Perez: “He has a high potential to be a Ryder Cup player this year.”
And the Frenchman showed why the Spaniard rates him so highly with a solid round of golf.
Garcia won the opening hole with a par but Perez birdied the next two to go one up and he was two ahead by the ninth.
That lead was extended further when Garcia hit his tee shot into the water when attempting to drive the green on the 13th and Perez completed the win with a birdie on the 15th.
Rahm, ranked third in the world, was the only player in the top 20 to reach the last 16 but he was three down after five holes against Scheffler.
The Spaniard birdied the seventh and ninth holes to reduce the deficit but Scheffler hit back to win the 10th and also claimed the 12th after Rahm hit his second shot into a lake.
Rahm then had a chip-in birdie on the 14th but Scheffler rolled in from eight feet to halve the hole and maintain his three-hole lead. A birdie on the 15th gave Rahm hope but when he missed a birdie attempt on the 17th, he conceded the match.
In the fourth quarter-final, Kuchar won two of the first four holes to be one up and was three ahead after 13. Harman holed a 30-foot putt from the fringe to take the 14th but he was unable to make further inroads.
The semi-finals, third-place play-off and final will all take place on Sunday.
Semi-final draw:
B Horschel (US) v V Perez (Fra)
S Scheffler (US) v M Kuchar (US).