Rory McIlroy looking to potential Ryder Cup rematch with Patrick Reed at the Match Play

Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy were the headliners on Sunday at last year’s Ryder Cup. The stud player for the American side and the European side got together in the rare dream singles match that is often elusive given the biennial competition’s blind draw.

Reed and McIlroy played an astounding first eight holes of their match, with each player answering the other, begging the partisan American crowd for a reaction and putting on a show unique in the sport. Ultimately, Reed prevailed on the 18th hole, leading the American charge to their first Ryder Cup win since 2008.

This week at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, McIlroy and Reed have one of two opportunities in this event for a reprisal of that match before the Ryder Cup moves in 2018 to France. If both players advance all the way to the final, it would set up an epic finish to the event in Austin, Texas.

McIlroy is hoping for that finale.

“Look, it would be nice to play Patrick again,” McIlroy said ahead of the draw for the event. “There is some unfinished business there that I would like to clear up. But we’ll see what happens.”

Were that to be the finish, McIlroy hopes he prevail by more than Reed’s 1-up margin.

“Something I’d really look forward to, to try to beat him and beat him by more than one hole, just so I have a little bit of an edge It’s sort of the way it is,” he said. “But getting beaten in singles Sunday of the Ryder Cup stings. But it was a pleasure to be a part of that match because of the people will remember that for a long time. I wasn’t on the winning side of it, but it was cool to be a part of. If we could do that again that would be cool.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.