Reaching the last 16 of the Accenture World Match Play Championship in California has not been easy for Europe’s sole survivors Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and David Howell.
But reaching the quarter-finals will look a whole lot harder when they return to La Costa today.
Harrington will be up against world number two Vijay Singh, who accounted for Co Antrim's Graeme McDowell in the first round, Donald faces third seed Retief Goosen and Howell will take on another of golf’s superstars in Phil Mickelson, born in nearby San Diego.
A record 17 Europeans started the 64-man event, but 14 have departed after two rounds, including first round casualties Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and McDowell, and it looked like being 15 when Harrington stood two down with three to play against Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.
Then, however, Harrington sank a 30-footer at the short 16th - the hole where American Ben Crane holed-in-one 10 minutes later - levelled with another long birdie putt on the difficult 17th, halved the 558-yard 18th in birdies and won with a par at the first extra hole.
"It’s nice to do it when you have to," said the relieved Dubliner, who had been four over par for the first 12 holes. "But I am working on a few things in my game and I have not got a consistent swing. I have not got a consistent anything and it’s telling a few times.
"It was only when I was two down that I basically forgot everything and tried just to get it in the hole. I have been in two play-offs with Vijay and it’s one and one. Hopefully I will play better than I did (against Cabrera).
"I am mixed up with the ball and I am definitely between two swings, so I am basically aiming at the middle of the fairway and hoping that I don’t draw or fade too much.
"It’s not the way to do it. Actually the best thing I could have done for the next couple of weeks was to lose and go practise. But that’s not the case."
Donald sounded much happier with things after a six-under-par display in beating Shigeki Maruyama 4&3, which followed his 2&1 victory over Richard Green.
"That was the golf I like to play," he stated. "I didn’t give Shigeki a chance really and I made him make birdies if he wanted to win a hole. Everything was good. I mean, I drove it well, hit pretty good irons and made some good putts." He finished the match with a 30-foot effort.
"It was a lot better. I played just okay against Richard and luckily it was good enough. It would be nice to have a great week because it would mean so much towards the Ryder Cup."
He is 11th in the current standings and Harrington 15th, so captain Ian Woosnam will not be complaining if he can keep going.
Howell, conqueror of Tiger Woods in Shanghai in November, lies sixth on the table and with the top five Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and McGinley not around the player can really
advance his claims.
Mickelson will inevitably start favourite on home turf, but Howell said: "It will make it more of a feather (in his cap) if I win. He’s a great player, isn’t he? I have never played with him and I am just going to have to go out and shoot a good score. You get five or six under par and anyone is going to struggle to beat you."
Howell, Donald and Harrington are already guaranteed more than £70,000 for their week’s work. But now the stakes really get high — winners today are sure of almost £138,000, reach the semi-finals and it is more than £250,000, win the title and it is nearly £750,000.
The three games involving Europeans were part of a quality last-16 line-up. Three more were all-American duels - Tiger Woods versus Chad Campbell, Chris DiMarco versus Davis Love and defending champion David Toms versus Tom Lehman, the Ryder Cup captain who might yet earn a place in his own side for the K Club in September.
Canadian Mike Weir, winner of the Masters three years ago, met Geoff Ogilvy, the only Australian left from what was a 10-strong contingent, and American Zach Johnson faced Shingo Katayama.
The Japanese player put out Montgomerie yesterday, the Scot unable to turn his game around after missing halfway cuts in Dubai and Perth. He was five over par in somehow beating Niclas Fasth on day one and one over against Katayama.
