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| - Americans Billy Horschel and Scottie Scheffler advanced to the WGC Match Play final Sunday with morning triumphs setting up an 18-hole afternoon championship duel. Scheffler, a 30th-seeded local hero, edged US 52nd seed Matt Kuchar, the 2013 winner and 2019 runner-up, 1 up while 32nd seed Horschel defeated French 31st seed Victor Perez 3&2 on a damp and windy morning at Austin Country Club in the Texas capital. Scheffler, seeking his first US PGA title at age 24 in his WGC Match Play debut, would be the youngest winner of an event he watched while playing for the local University of Texas. "I felt really good about how I was playing all day. I was almost too comfortable," Scheffler said. "I knew if I kept executing and hitting good shots I'd have a chance to win." Scheffler, who shared fourth last year in his PGA Championship debut, lives nearby and has often played the course. Horschel, the 2014 Tour Championship and FedEx Cup playoff winner, seeks his sixth PGA victory and first since the 2018 pairs event in New Orleans with countryman Scott Piercy. "It was a challenge," Horschel said. "When you play in wind like this you have to understand you'll hit good shots and not get rewarded. You have to grind it out. "I didn't play anything special. I just played solid golf and let Victor make a few mistakes. You try to stay below the wind, not let the wind take control of the golf ball, hit solid golf shots." A rare family vacation put Horschel in a relaxed mind heading into the week and he says, "I'm sure there will be more of this after seeing the success I've had this week." Perez, ranked 33rd, is the top-rated player in the world who is not a US PGA Tour member, but winning the consolation match would give him special temporary membership. The 28-year-old Frenchman moved to Scotland to be with his dentist girlfriend and has embraced Scottish golf culture living near St. Andrews. Perez lost the first hole with a bogey but Horschel did the same at the second. The Frenchman sank a five-foot birdie putt at the par-3 fourth to grab the lead but Horschel birdied the next from nine feet to level the match. Horschel surrendered the par-5 sixth after needing five to reach the green but won the seventh when Perez missed a six-foot par putt as they reached the turn deadlocked. Perez made back-to-back bogeys, missing a six-foot par putt at the 10th and finding water off the tee at 11, to hand Horschel a 2-up edge. Perez splashed his second shot at the par-5 12th but still managed to halve the hole, only to miss a birdie putt from just outside five feet at the 14th to fall 3-down with four to play. The Frenchman bounced back, dropping his approach inches from the cup to win 15 with a birdie, but Horschel sank a birdie from just outside four feet to win the par-5 16th and close out the match. In the other semi-final, Scheffler rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to seize a 1-up edge. At 18, Kuchar had a birdie putt from just outside eight feet to in the hole and extend the match but missed left. He never made a birdie in the match. Scheffler made an 11-foot birdie to win the par-4 ninth and an 18-foot birdie putt to capture the par-3 11th for a 2-up advantage, but found water on his approach at the par-5 12th and off the tee at 13 and dropped both holes to square the match. "I lost focus there," Scheffler said. js/bb
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