Kevin Kisner once again advances to semifinals in Austin, continues to show he’s a match play savant

“I’ve learned a lot being in this position about how you prepare for the afternoon rounds, and I think that helped me today.”

Kevin Kisner is officially annoying his opponents at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

“It gets tiring whenever you’re in the fairway and on the green every time and you hoop a few putts,” he said. “They get sick of that quickly.”

Having already eliminated Justin Thomas, Marc Leishman, and Luke List in the group stage, Kisner rallied from a 3-down deficit with four holes to go and beat Adam Scott on the 18th hole in the Round of 16. Then he downed Will Zalatoris in the afternoon to advance to the semifinals for the third time at Austin Country Club (2018 and ’19 previously).

“It’s kind of crazy how much good fortune I’ve had at this golf course and this tournament,” Kisner said.

For some unknown reason, it hasn’t helped him get chosen to the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but Kisner has developed a reputation as a match-play specialist. He won the Dell Match Play in 2019, and the victory over Zalatoris earned him his 21st career victory in this competition since making his debut in 2016, the most of any player in that span, and has won 13 of his last 14 matches (21-6-1 overall).

“Holing those putts to win never gets old,” he said after dispatching Scott.

That he even had a chance to do so was remarkable, given that not a single competitor in the history of the event had rallied from being 3 down with four holes to play.

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“But I don’t ever give up,” Kisner said.

The momentum of the match shifted when he wedged to 4 feet at the 15th and canned the birdie putt to win the hole. Then he holed a bunker shot for eagle at 16.

“It was pretty much make it or go home,” Kisner said. “I couldn’t see it go in, but he said it trickled in like a putt. Those are things you dream about.”

He caught another break when Zalatoris, his quarterfinals opponent, needed 22 holes to edge Kevin Na.

“I’ve been laying around on the couch in the locker room for an hour and he’s not really — I mean, shoving down a sandwich and going to the first tee, 85 degrees, wind blowing 20, greens rolling 14, it’s not the easiest in the world to get right back into it,” Kisner said. “I’ve learned a lot being in this position about how you prepare for the afternoon rounds, and I think that helped me today.”

Kisner won three of the first four holes – two of them with pars – and built a 3-up lead at the turn. Of his 39-foot birdie putt at the par-3 11th to extend the lead to 4 up, he said, “I’ve just had that putt a bunch, so I knew exactly what it did, and I got to see Will before me.”

Kisner went 5-up a hole later before losing the 13th with a bogey but closed out the match with a pair of pars for the 4-and-3 victory. That sets up a semifinal match with Corey Conners.

“He’s a hell of a ball-striker, so I’ll have to have my ‘A’ game on the ball-striking just to keep being around him. He hits it longer than I do and stripes the hell out of it. All I’ll try to do is annoy him with my putter,” Kisner said.

Asked if he pays much attention to the bracket and who he’ll face next, Kisner said, “They all look the same to me. No, I have no idea. I asked (the Tour media official) on the way in who I was playing next. I asked Brooks Koepka in the locker room after the first match if we were playing each other, and he’s like, ‘No, I’m playing DJ in 30 minutes.’ I don’t ever look, man. They tell me when we tee off, and we’ll go from there.”

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