Ian Poulter remained on course to qualify for the Masters as he booked a place in the quarter-finals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Poulter held off a late rally from Louis Oosthuizen to clinch a 2&1 victory in Austin, his 27th career win in the competition he won in 2010, while Alex Noren continued his impressive progress with a crushing win over Patrick Reed, but Sergio Garcia bowed out to Kyle Stanley.
British interest now hinges on Poulter after Tyrrell Hatton went down 2&1 to Cameron Smith, while second-seed Justin Thomas outclassed Si Woo Kim as he ran out a convincing 6&5 winner.
A semi-final place will be enough for Poulter to move into the world's top 50 on Monday which would guarantee him a berth in the field at Augusta National, and he again displayed his match-play prowess with a dominant performance against Oosthuizen.
Four birdies over the first seven holes lifted Poulter into a three-hole lead before the South African trimmed the deficit with his second birdie of the clash at the ninth.
But after the pair traded birdies at the 11th, Poulter birdied the 12th to restore his three-hole lead and increased it further when Oosthuizen pulled his approach to 13 into the water hazard and was forced to concede.
Oosthuizen pulled one back at the next and then matched Poulter's birdie at 15 before extending the contest with a great putt for a four at the long 16th, but he was unable to better Poulter's cast-iron par at the penultimate hole.
"You're going to be tough to beat if you make eight birdies, and I knew I needed that against Louis," said Poulter, who was initially told he was assured of a Masters place before new projections indicated he needed to win his quarter-final against Kevin Kisner, who beat Matt Kuchar at the final hole.
Hatton can count himself unfortunate having been six under for 17 holes against Smith, but the Aussie youngster bounced back from losing the first two holes with three straight birdies, and he added two more at seven and nine to lead by one at the turn.
Smith also birdied 12 and benefited from Hatton's only bogey of the contest at the 13th to go three up and, although the fiery Engishman pulled one back at 15, his birdies at the next two holes were matched by Smith to end the match.
Meanwhile, Kiradech Aphibarnrat birdied the last two holes to snatch victory over Charles Howell III, while Thomas kept alive his hopes of dethroning Dustin Johnson as world No 1 outclassed an erratic Kim, and Bubba Watson continued his resurgence with a 2&1 win over fellow southpaw Brian Harman.
Quarter finals
Kiradech Aphibarnrat v Bubba Watson
Kyle Stanley v Justin Thomas
Cameron Smith v Alex Noren
Kevin Kisner v Ian Poulter
Watch the quarter-finals live now on Sky Sports Golf