Hideki Matsuyama failed to reach the quarterfinals of the Match Play Championship after losing to world No. 1 Rory McIlroy 6 and 5 on Saturday.
"I was bad off the tee and that affected my irons," Matsuyama said. "I couldn't recover. With him taking control, I had to pick up my game to catch up but I was shooting around par so I wasn't cutting it."
Matsuyama was down by as much as five through eight holes and went out with five holes to spare. He tipped his hat to McIlroy, whose quarterfinal against Paul Casey was all square after 21 holes and suspended due to darkness.
"McIlroy wasn't at his best but he still found a way to produce a good score, which is impressive," said Matsuyama, who must regroup for the Players Championship starting Thursday.
"That's the difference between me and the No. 1 player in the world."