AUSTIN, Texas – Three days of pool play are in the books at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technology Match Play, and world No. 1 Jon Rahm, plus Billy Horschel and Kevin Kisner – who won it all here in 2021 and 2019 – are among those moving on to the knockout rounds.

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So are Takumi Kanaya and Richard Bland.

Here are nine shockers from the pool play portion of the tournament.

1. Making birdies didn’t necessarily help

Of the top 10 players who led the par-breakers stat – the percent of holes played in either birdie or eagle – only Brooks Koepka (third) and Scottie Scheffler (10th) advanced to knockout play.

Koepka beat Shane Lowry 1-up on Friday to finish pool play with a perfect 3-0-0 record. Scheffler beat Matt Fitzpatrick, 5 and 4, then beat him in a six-hole playoff to emerge from their group.

Tony Finau (1-2-0) and Si Woo Kim (2-1-0), who were one-two, respectively, in the par-breakers stat at around 34 percent, failed to advance from their groups.

2. Scottie Scheffler played a ton of holes – and it still wasn’t the most

Scheffler needed six extra holes to emerge from his group, outlasting Fitzpatrick, which meant that the runner-up to Horschel last year totaled 54 holes played over three days.

Kevin Na still had him beat. Na, who beat Joaquin Niemann 1 up Friday to finish 2-0-1, went all 18 holes in all three of his matches. Then he beat Maverick McNealy on the first playoff hole.

Total holes played for Na: 55.

Among those who advanced, Corey Conners, who was conceded his opening match against Paul Casey after just two holes (more on that below), played the fewest holes with 35.

3. Richard Bland is peaking at 49

Bland tied Bryson DeChambeau, beat Talor Gooch, and then, with a Saturday tee time hanging in the balance, birdied 17 to salt away a 2-and-1 win over Lee Westwood.

Although he joked about their advanced age after dispatching his old English boys’ teammate Westwood, Bland looks to have just entered the prime of his career. He will take on long-hitting Dustin Johnson on Saturday. For more on Bland, click here.

4. Takumi Kanaya is emerging at 23

The former top-ranked amateur in the world, Kanaya won Group 7 by beating Lucas Herbert in their Friday match and then in a one-hole playoff. (Herbert three-putted from 17 feet.)

Already a three-time winner on the Japan Tour, Kanaya was on the radar of International Presidents Cup Captain Trevor Immelman, whose team will take on the Americans at Quail Hollow this fall. Now, though, Kanaya is really, really on the radar.

He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+5.802) and will play Corey Conners to open knockout play in the Round of 16 on Saturday.

5. The members of Group 10 got a day off

Paul Casey suffered back spasms and conceded to Corey Conners – after two holes – and Alex Noren. The explanation: A trainer told Casey his glutes weren’t firing.

“Which made me giggle,” he said. “Apparently it's a thing when you get to your 40s.”

Louis Oosthuizen was mathematically eliminated with his loss to Conners on Thursday, after which Casey conceded his Friday match, against Oosthuizen.

Conners beat Noren, 3 and 2, to advance.

6. Maverick McNealy had the most dominant win

The 64th seed in a field of 64, McNealy didn’t even find out he was in the field until Valspar Championship winner Sam Burns withdrew Sunday night.

What’s more, McNealy hadn’t played match play since the 2017 Walker Cup, when he went 4-0.

No one would have guessed, watching him beat Joaquin Niemann, 8 and 6, in his opening match, that he wasn’t the heavy favorite. It was the most lopsided margin of victory over the first three days.

Alas, McNealy, who beat Russell Henley, 2 and 1, Friday to go 2-0-1 in pool play, didn’t get out of Group 14, losing on the first hole of a playoff to Kevin Na.

7. Billy Horschel looks immune to fickleness of match play

The defending champion was 2-0-0 and had his destiny in his hands as he came into his Friday match against Thomas Pieters, who was 1-1-0. Horschel fell behind early and was 2 down with two holes remaining when he rallied for a birdie-birdie finish to secure a tie.

At 2-0-1, Horschel moves on over Pieters (1-1-1), Min Woo Lee (1-1-1) and Tom Hoge (0-2-1).

8. This could be a reprisal of 2017, or ’19, or ’21

World No. 1 Jon Rahm ran into a bulldozer as Patrick Reed made eight birdies and won their match, 3 and 2, but at 2-1-0, Rahm still won the group. Dustin Johnson (3-0-0) left no doubt in winning his group. They were the finalists here in 2017, when Johnson won.

If he wins again, we’ll be calling him Austin Johnson, which is actually his caddie’s name. Rahm and Johnson would need to win their first matches Saturday to meet in the quarterfinals.

We could also be in for a repeat of ’19 when Kisner won, or last year, when Horschel won. Match play is a fickle beast, and these guys are defying the odds to stay alive – so far.

9. Dustin Johnson is leading the field in putting

He’s had his ups and downs with the flatstick, but Johnson is gaining 6.510 strokes on the field on the greens. Always one of the premier players from tee to green, he might just be unstoppable.