The golf was as good as it gets. Rory McIlroy made 17 birdies in the 36 holes he played Saturday. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler rallied with six birdies in his last nine holes to reach the semifinals for the third straight year.

A little luck never hurts in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. And as great as McIlroy played, he needed some of that, too.

McIlroy never led in his quarterfinals match against Xander Schauffele. They came to the 18th hole all square, and McIlroy slumped slightly when he saw his drive headed left toward the trees. Schauffele hit his shot and quickly picked up his tee.

Imagine their surprise. McIlroy came upon a golf ball behind a tree and figured it was his. Schauffele was walking behind him and was stunned when McIlroy kept going.

“He hit a worse drive than I did and he ended up fine,” Schauffele said.

He got no argument from McIlroy.

“I expected my ball to be Xander’s ball on 18 behind that tree, and I got fortunate that mine trundled down the hill and obviously made the chip shot a lot easier,” McIlroy said. “Look, you need a little bit of fortune in these things, and that was a bit of luck for me today.”

McIlroy won with a 12-foot birdie putt, the proper ending to a match that both said was a testament to the quality of golf required. Schauffele applauded all the pivotal putts McIlroy made to stay in the fight.

“Just ride out the heater,” Scheffler said. “I had to stay patient.”

Hojgaard, Stevens tied for lead at Punta Cana

Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark played bogey-free for a 6-under 66 and shared the lead with PGA Tour rookie Sam Stevens in the Corales Punta Cana Championship.

Stevens twice had the lead down the stretch on the Corales course until a wobbly finish, making bogey on the 16th, answering with a birdie on the par-3 17th and then missing the 18th green for a closing bogey and a 68.

They were at 14-under 202, one shot ahead of a large group that included 36-hole leader Matt Wallace of England, Thomas Detry of Belgium and Tyler Duncan, who won his only PGA Tour title at Sea Island in 2019.

Boutier in first as Jutanugarn struggles

Celine Boutier of France had an eagle and six birdies in a round of 7-under 65 and moved atop the leaderboard when Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand stumbled down the stretch in the third round of the LPGA Drive on Championship.

Boutier, a 29-year-old two-time tour winner, made an eagle 3 on the par-5 second hole, added two birdies that offset a bogey at the par-3 eighth. She played the back nine in 4 under for a 16-under 200 overall total and a one-stroke lead over three others heading into Sunday’s final round.

If the opening three rounds of the tour’s first full-field event of the season are any indication, the finale should be a scramble. There are 17 golfers within three shots of the lead after nine players posted rounds of 7- to 9-under par.