Golf:Rory McIlroy, chasing the top spot in the world rankings that a win in Arizona would guarantee, is into the quarter-finals of the Match Play Championship in Tucson after a hard fought 3&1 win over Miguel Angel Jimenez. McIlroy was never behind in the contest but some missed putts and iffy chips meant the win was never as comfortable as it might have been.
McIlroy, who will go to world number one for the first time in his career if he lifts the title, turned three-up against 48-year-old Spaniard after some dazzling iron play. But for missing twice from under five feet and once from eight feet the 22-year-old third seed would have been out of sight, but his Ryder Cup teammate was contributing to his own downfall as well by bogeying the long second and fourth in an outward 38. McIlroy was the one to take six at the 601-yard 11th, though
McIlroy was in danger of going back to only one ahead when he fluffed a chip on the 12th, but a bogey four won him the hole as Jimenez made a mess of things from the bunker. McIlroy, though, fluffed another chip at the 13th and Jimenez’s birdie took him only two down again.
However, that was as good as it got for the veteran as McIlroy closed out the match on the 17th green to set up a quarter-final showdown with John Senden or Sang-Moon Bae.
Revenge was sweet for Lee Westwood today as he breezed into the last eight. Beaten the past two years by Nick Watney — conqueror of Tiger Woods in the second round — Westwood birdied the first two holes and ran out a comfortable 3&2 winner.
It was the first time in 12 attempts that the Worksop golfer had made it into the last 16, but he looks in the mood to go much further. Like McIlroy, victory on Sunday would put him back as world number one ahead of Luke Donald and so far he has repeated Donald’s feat in winning 12 months ago, never trailing in any game and never being taken to the final hole either.
After his fast start he went three-up when Watney missed the green at the ninth and failed to get up and down, then stretched the gap to four by almost holing his approach to the next. Westwood was bunkered on the 12th and lost it to a par three, but he did wonderfully well to halve the 583-yard 13th in birdies after his chip hit the hole and rolled 10 feet away.
Westwood knew from the start he would be facing a Scot next if he won — and that turned out to be Martin Laird after he saw off Paul Lawrie.
Last year’s runner-up Martin Kaymer found American Matt Kuchar too hot to handle despite two opening birdies, losing 4&3, while Hunter Mahan beat Steve Stricker by the same margin in a match between Ryder Cup teammates. Kuchar, a semi-finalist last year, was also at Celtic Manor and he is next for Mahan.
