Canada's Conners ousted from golf worlds suffering semifinal loss to Kisner

Canada's Corey Conners fell just short in his quest to the finals at the Dell Technologies Match Play on Sunday in Austin, Texas.

The Listowel, Ont., native was outlasted by Kevin Kisner in a match so tight no one led by more than one hole.

Kisner joined Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy as the only players to reach the championship match at least three times since this World Golf Championship began in 1999. He lost in the final in 2018 and won the following year. His record is 22-6-1 on this Pete Dye design, a winning rate second only to Ogilvy.

Kisner stayed 1 up by making a 25-foot par on the eighth hole, and Conners seized the momentum to start the back nine.

WATCH | Conners falls shy of golf world finals in thriller of semifinal:

He was left of the 10th green, left of the cart path and on packed dirt when he bounced a pitch so perfectly that it rolled out to 5 feet for par to avoid going 2 down. Then, he holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th. Kisner went from bunker to water on the par-5 12th, and Conners had the lead for the first time.

Kisner squared the match with a par on the 14th, and the decisive moment came on the par-3 17th. Both were just off the green. Kisner lagged to a foot. Conners faced a downhill putt and hit it 8 feet by, missing the comebacker to fall 1 down.

On the 18th, Kisner from short of the green expertly used the ridge behind the hole, running it up 25 feet and watching it roll back to 4 feet. Conners, just left of the green with his drive, missed the eagle chip and the 10-foot birdie, conceding the match.

Scottie Scheffler also reached the championship round at the Dell Technologies Match Play, just for the second straight year, and this time with a lot more at stake.

A year ago, he was