Spieth, McIlroy in must-win matches
Rickie Fowler made three big putts in a row and won his second consecutive match Thursday to secure his spot in the round of 16 on the weekend at the Match Play Championship at San Francisco.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth also won two matches and they still could be going home Friday.
Fowler still has one more match to play Friday, which effectively is a practice round in the middle of a tournament. By outlasting Shane Lowry on the 18th hole, he is 2-0 in round-robin play and already is assured of having the best record to advance from his four-man group.
“Definitely a stress reliever right there,” Fowler said.
McIlroy went the distance to beat Brandt Snedeker, while Billy Horschel had no trouble dispatching Jason Dufner. McIlroy and Horschel are both 2-0 and play Friday to determine who advances to the weekend.
“It’s win or go home,” McIlroy said. “So it’s back to the usual format.”
Spieth is looking as dominant as his week at the Masters. He finished off a 4and-3 victory over Matt Every with 10 straight one-putt greens that totaled about 120 feet, four of those putts just to halve the hole.
Lee Westwood escaped with a 1-up victory when Mikko Ilonen missed a fourfoot putt. Westwood also is 2-0 and will play Spieth on Friday to determine who advances.
“It’s going to be hard to keep making this many putts and this many birdies,” Spieth said. “And I feel like I’m truly going to need that to beat him.”
John Senden joined Fowler as the only two players to lock up spots in the round of 16, when the Match Play returns to single elimination.
Among those eliminated after the second day were defending champion Jason Day, 2014 runner-up Victor Dubuisson, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Jimmy Walker.
Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen each won their matches to set up a win-orgo home match Friday in their group. Watson beat Bradley, who now has lost his last seven singles matches in Match Play, the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
Gary Woodland put away Poulter, the Ryder Cup wizard who now has lost his last three matches in this tournament. Woodland and Webb Simpson, who beat Walker, will play Friday for the right to advance. Ko struggles
Lydia Ko had a triple bogey after losing a ball in a pine tree and dropped three more strokes on the next two holes to put her career-long LPGA Tour cuts streak in jeopardy in the North Texas Shootout at Irving, Texas
Ko finished with a fourover-par 75 at Las Colinas, leaving the top-ranked New Zealander nine strokes behind leaders Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr and Sydnee Michaels. Ko has made the 36-hole cuts in all 50 of her LPGA Tour starts.
Ko said Wednesday that she will donate her earnings to the earthquake relief effort in Nepal
The 54-year-old Inkster also shared the first-round lead last week in California and ended up tying for 15th. She won the last of her 31 tour titles in 2006.