Friday 29 March 2019 10:04, UK
Rory McIlroy maintained his winning start to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but the prospects of a McIlroy vs Tiger Woods last-16 clash took a hit on day two in Austin.
McIlroy followed up his comfortable opening-day win over Luke List with an impressive 3&2 victory over Justin Harding, and he will advance from Group 4 if he avoids defeat against Matt Fitzpatrick on Friday.
But Woods needs to beat Patrick Cantlay and hope that Aaron Wise gets the better of Brandt Snedeker if he is to face McIlroy on Saturday morning, with Snedeker never behind in a 2&1 victory over Woods in the second wave of round-robin matches.
Elsewhere, Justin Rose had to birdie three of the last four holes to snatch an unlikely half against fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell, while Ryder Cup record-breaker Francesco Molinari earned a seventh consecutive win in match play as he cruised to a 4&3 win over Le Golf National team-mate Thorbjorn Olesen.
But defending champion Bubba Watson will be playing for nothing more than pride on Friday along with the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jason Day, while Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka are on the verge of crashing out at the group stage.
McIlroy won the first hole against Harding and the pair traded three straight birdies before the South African made another at the ninth to level the match at the turn, only for McIlroy to regain the lead with a superb eagle at the 12th.
The next two were halved in bogeys before McIlroy holed from 12 feet for a winning birdie at the 15th, and he closed out the win in style when he crunched a delightful fairway-wood from over 260 yards to 10 feet at the 16th, and Harding was unable to make birdie and conceded the eagle putt and the match.
"It's a nice position to be in compared to the last couple of years, being in control of my own fate a little bit," said McIlroy. "Just got to go out and play well.
"I've been looking forward to the match against Fitz because I've become pretty close to him living down in Jupiter and whatever. Go out and play similarly tomorrow, take my chances when I can and hopefully get three wins out of three and move on."
Woods produced the shot of the day at the 10th when he managed to stab his ball onto the green, left-handed, kneeling down under a bush, and holed the putt for a remarkable par which halved the hole and ensured Snedeker remained only one hole ahead.
The three-time champion found water off the tee at the 13th before he birdied the next to pull the hole back, but he could not match Snedeker's birdie at 16 and slipped to a 2&1 defeat which leaves him facing an uncertain third day.
"We had difficult conditions out there today," Woods said. "The wind was pumping and if you went around there with no bogeys, you probably would win your fair share of holes. We both made a couple of mistakes out there, but he made a few less mistakes than I did."
Lee Westwood was four up on Rafa Cabrera Bello after 11 holes before the Spaniard won five of the next six to take a lead down the last, which Westwood birdied to salvage a halved-match - one of five Englishman to be held to a half on the day.
Group 9 could go to a four-man play-off if Westwood beats Tyrrell Hatton and Cabrera Bello beats Xander Schauffele, while Johnson and Koepka - like Woods - need a victory and other results to go their way if they are to advance to the weekend.
