WGC-Dell Match Play 2019: Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth Big Thursday Winners

The top players in the world continued to make their moves toward a championship in Day 2 of the 2019 WGC-Dell Match Play.

Thursday's action featured the second day of round-robin matches, with everyone hoping to earn one of the 16 spots in the knock-out round Saturday. Of course, this first requires some success in the head-to-head battles during the first three days in Austin, Texas.

Here are the full results from Day 2, courtesy of PGATour.com.

Group 1: No. 40 Branden Grace def. No. 1 Dustin Johnson (1 Up)

Group 1: No. 24 Hideki Matsuyama vs. No. 55 Chez Reavie (Halved)

Group 2: No. 2 Justin Rose vs. No. 34 Eddie Pepperell (Halved)

Group 2: No. 22 Gary Woodland def. No. 53 Emiliano Grillo (1 Up)

Group 3: No. 36 HaoTong Li def. No. 3 Brooks Koepka (2 Up)

Group 3: No. 27 Alex Noren def. No. 60 Tom Lewis (4 & 2)

Group 4: No. 4 Rory McIlroy def. No. 47 Justin Harding (3 & 2)

Group 4: No. 64 Luke List def. No. 32 Matthew Fitzpatrick (2 & 1)

Group 5: No. 5 Justin Thomas def. No. 33 Matt Wallace (3 & 1)

Group 5: No. 31 Keegan Bradley vs. No. 50 Lucas Bjerregaard (Halved)

Group 6: No. 39 Kiradech Aphibarnrat def. No. 6 Bryson DeChambeau (2 & 1)

Group 6: No. 17 Marc Leishman def. No. 59 Russell Knox (2 Up)

Group 7: No. 7 Francesco Molinari def. No. 45 Thorbjorn Olesen (4 & 3)

Group 7: No. 21 Webb Simpson vs. No. 63 Satoshi Kodaira (Halved)

Group 8: No. 43 J.B. Holmes def. No. 8 Jon Rahm (2 & 1)

Group 8: No. 23 Matt Kuchar def. No. 54 Si Woo Kim (6 & 4)

Group 9: No. 9 Xander Schauffele vs. No. 35 Tyrell Hatton (Halved) 

Group 9: No. 29 Rafa Cabrera Bello vs. No. 62 Lee Westwood (Halved)

Group 10: No. 10 Paul Casey vs. No. 42 Charles Howell III (Halved)

Group 10: No. 58 Abraham Ancer def. No. 25 Cameron Smith (3 & 2)

Group 11: No. 11 Tommy Fleetwood vs. No. 41 Kyle Stanley (Halved)

Group 11: No. 19 Louis Oosthuizen def. No. 48 Byeong Hun An (1 Up)

Group 12: No. 37 Henrik Stenson def. No. 12 Jason Day (4 & 3)

Group 12: No. 52 Jim Furyk def. No. 20 Phil Mickelson (1 Up)

Group 13: No. 44 Brandt Snedeker def. No. 13 Tiger Woods (2 & 1)

Group 13: No. 18 Patrick Cantlay def. No. 61 Aaron Wise (4 & 2)

Group 14: No. 48 Kevin Kisner def. No. 14 Tony Finau (2 Up)

Group 14: No. 56 Keith Mitchell def. No. 30 Ian Poulter (1 Up)

Group 15: No. 38 Billy Horschel def. No. 15 Bubba Watson (2 & 1)

Group 15: No. 28 Jordan Spieth def. No. 57 Kevin Na (3 & 2)

Group 16: No. 16 Patrick Reed vs. No. 46 Shane Lowry (Halved)

Group 16: No. 26 Sergio Garcia def. No. 51 Andrew Putnam (5 & 4)

Arguably the most exciting foursome in this competition was Group 12, featuring the four big names of Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Jim Furyk and Henrik Stenson. 

The stakes were raised after the first day when Day and Mickelson lost, putting their back against the wall going into Thursday. However, it didn't help as the two higher-seeded players were both eliminated with their second loss.

Furyk was impressive throughout the round, including this eagle on No. 5:

Mickelson got it back to all square but a bogey on No. 13 put him back behind for good in a 1-up loss.

It was an especially important victory for Furyk:

Stenson was even better with a 4 and 3 win over Day, and he will now take on Furyk for a spot in the next round.

Bubba Watson was another big name eliminated with his second loss as he trailed the entire round to Billy Horschel before suffering a 2 and 1 loss.

On the other hand, Justin Thomas bounced back from his opening loss with a steady showing against Matt Wallace.

Tiger Woods was involved in one of the more exciting battles of the day against Brandt Snedeker, including arguably the strangest shot of the round:

You can take more risks in a match-play event and Woods took advantage by halving this hole.

In the end, though, Snedeker was more consistent and it helped him earn a 2 and 1 win. Woods now needs a win Friday and some help in order to advance.

Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar had no such trouble with some easy runs through Thursday, improving to 2-0-0 on the week.

In the biggest upset of the day, Branden Grace had two birdies in his final four holes to beat No. 1 player in the world Dustin Johnson. It doesn't necessarily knock the American out of the hunt, but he will need help on Friday including a Grace loss to Chez Reavie.

No. 3 Brooks Koepka was also stunned by HaoTong Li to ruin his undefeated start.

At least Koepka had one of the better shots of the tournament, along with Kyle Stanley:

Neither of these men was able to come away with a win, however, which shows how much more important it is to be consistent in match play than stroke play.

There will be one more day worth of round-robin matches on Friday before the Round of 16 is set.