Abraham Ancer delivers early knockout punch against Collin Morikawa to advance to WGC-Dell Match Play Elite 8

Abraham Ancer skipped breakfast, but they were almost still serving that meal by the time he closed out Collin Morikawa 7 and 6.

Abraham Ancer was in the final match to tee off in Saturday’s morning Round of 16 session of the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas. And yet Ancer didn’t have an appetite for pancakes or an omelette. He said he skipped breakfast before some big-game hunting. He only had a cup of coffee before taking on World No. 2 Collin Morikawa.

The coffee provided quite a jolt to Ancer’s game and the match didn’t last much longer than a cup of Joe as he crushed Morikawa 7 and 6 to advance to the Elite 8 of golf’s version of March Madness.

Ancer grabbed the lead at the third hole at Austin Country Club with a birdie and never looked back. In fact, he hasn’t trailed in any of his four matches so far this week. Morikawa had no answer for the 31-year-old Mexican who made a birdie at No. 6, the first of four straight holes he won to take a commanding 5-up lead at the turn. Ancer birdied his final four holes and now has made 11 birdies in his last 25 holes dating back to Friday’s victory over Webb Simpson.

“I just kept thinking in my head that I was down in the match and I had to fight to make birdies and it paid off,” Ancer said.

How did Ancer explain his dominant performance over the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year?

“Just being in the fairway and telling myself that I’m going against one of the best ball strikers in the world, maybe the best, so I had to hit the ball perfect and make some putts,” Ancer said. “Thankfully that was the case.”

The added benefit for Ancer of making short work of Morikawa was two-fold – more time to eat and rest.

“You want to save as much energy as you can,” he said. “Every time you have a chance to close out a match you want to do it as soon as possible.”

How did Ancer plan to spend his extended break before his quarterfinal duel with Corey Conners, the No. 36 seed?

“I’m going to have some lunch, keep the body moving,” Ancer said. “I don’t want to get stiff, and just get ready to go again.”

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