Rory McIlroy at WGC-Cadillac Match Play 2015: Score and Reaction from Friday

Faced with a win-or-go-home match against Billy Horschel in the final day of round-robin competition at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship, Rory McIlroy rose to the occasion with a dramatic 20-hole win. 

Trailing by two holes with two holes to play, McIlroy hit back-to-back birdies to force sudden death. He nearly won the match with another birdie on the 19th hole, leaving it just short of the cup, but saved par on No. 20 after Horschel bogeyed. 

McIlroy and Horschel both made it through their first two matches in Group 1 unscathed. McIlroy defeated Jason Dufner (5 and 4) and Brandt Snedeker (2 up) to set up Friday's showdown with the winner advancing to the 16-player single-elimination round starting on Saturday. 

McIlroy will take on Hideki Matsuyama in the round of 16. 

As for how McIlroy fared on each hole, here's a look at his scorecard from the matchup with Horschel:

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Par	5	3	4	4	5	4	4	4	3
McIlroy	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
Horschel	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	3
Score	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	AS	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	3	5
McIlroy	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	2	4
Horschel	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	3	5
Score	BH (1 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (2 Up)	BH (1 Up)	BH (2 Up)	BH (2 Up)	BH (2 Up)	BH (1 Up)	AS
Hole	19	20
Par	5	3
McIlroy	5	3
Horschel	5	4
Score	AS	RM (1 Up)

McIlroy and Horschel are no strangers to each other in match-play events. Horschel beat McIlroy twice at the 2007 Walker Cup in singles and foursomes, but the world's top-ranked player did get revenge in singles competition on Sunday. 

Horschel told Brian Wacker of PGATour.com that the different format allows him to be more aggressive and take some chances in an effort to knock off McIlroy:

"

I'm not worried about the score out there. Sometimes when I play a regular tournament I'm so much focused on score I get taken out of what I need to do. In this I'm just trying to hit the best shot in this part of the fairway, this part of the green to put the pressure on my opponent and see if he can match me.

"

There was some hope for bad blood heading into this match stemming from that 2007 Walker Cup. Per Steve DiMeglio of USA Today, McIlroy and Horschel had a poor relationship due to actions from that event, but McIlroy shot down any hope of drama on Friday: 

"

We're good mates. But back then we were a little bit younger and a little more emotional. So it was pretty heated. I don't think tomorrow will be quite so much like that, but you still you need to win or you go home. … I'm probably not quite as emotional on the golf course as he is. But tomorrow you might see more emotions.

"

McIlroy's problem early in this match was he couldn't convert when Horschel left the door open. The 25-year-old pulled to within one hole on No. 13, only to hit a bogey on the 14th hole to give the American more breathing room. 

The PGA Tour and television executives are likely smiling with McIlroy around at least one more day, as Jordan Spieth was eliminated by Lee Westwood. As noted by Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle, the star power playing this weekend could have been greatly diminished:

McIlroy's fate appeared to be sealed on the 16th hole thanks to an exchange of birdies with Horschel, via PGA Tour:

Following that hole, via PGA Tour, Horschel seemed like he wasn't going to give McIlroy an opportunity to get back in the match based on where he hit the green:

But McIlroy got a 30-foot birdie on No. 17 to pull within one heading into the final hole. Odds were still against him, yet being able to find that putt when he was all over the map on the green throughout the day shows why this young man is such a special and rare talent, as Art Spander pointed out on Twitter: 

"

There's a reason McIlroy is No. 1 in world. Closed birdie, birdie to get even even with Horschel, send match to extra holes

— Art Spander (@artspander) May 2, 2015"

The drama amped up quickly because McIlroy had an eagle putt on No. 18 with Horschel off the green. He wouldn't hit that shot, but he did nail a birdie on his next putt to square the match and force extra holes. 

Horschel had a chance to secure the victory with a 12-foot putt, but was unable to convert and conceded the hole to McIlroy. 

As sudden death started, ESPN's Jason Sobel jokingly stated the loser wouldn't have to be bored this weekend:

McIlroy now faces a conundrum because he has tickets to Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas. A loss would have allowed him to settle in Vegas before the bout, but now he's at the mercy of the scheduling gods. 

Horschel certainly didn't go down quietly, but as Will Gray of the Golf Channel wrote on Twitter, he gave McIlroy too many opportunities to hang around instead of putting things away:

Things seemed like they might start to slow down for McIlroy in sudden death. Per Amanda Balionis of PGATour.com, Horschel gave McIlroy a chance to win, but he was unable to make it four consecutive birdies:

That doesn't do justice to how close the match was to ending, as McIlroy's putt was right on the lip of the cup but didn't drop. He came back on the par-three 20th hole with a par and Horschel was unable to match it, setting the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year up for the win. 

McIlroy's trajectory through this match-play event has been trending down. He breezed through Wednesday, struggled early before turning it on Thursday and needed a miraculous run on Friday to keep hope alive heading into the weekend. 

It's not an ideal path, but McIlroy likely isn't going to complain since he still has a chance to win the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship. Matsuyama won't be a picnic, as he's also coming off three consecutive wins in Group 16.