Saturday 2 May 2015 00:13, UK
Justin Rose has been knocked out of the WGC-Cadillac Match Play despite claiming his second consecutive victory at Harding Park.
Rose needed to win and see Anirban Lahiri defeat group leader Marc Leishman to have any chance of progress to the last 16, but the Australian prevailed on the final hole to qualify and extend his unbeaten start to the week.
Had Lahiri won, the three players would have faced a sudden-death play-off to see which of them would play in the knockout stages, but Leishman will now face Group 11 winner Gary Woodland in Saturday’s second round.
After Palmer had opened with a birdie at the first, Rose responded with three gains of his own to reach the turn 1up, although lost his advantage with a seven foot missed putt at the 10th.
The Englishman regained his lead at the next after Palmer found the rough off the tee, moving back 2up by picking up a stroke at the par-four 16th. With Rose completing the next in regulation, Palmer needed to hole his 15-foot birdie to take the contest to the 18th but saw his effort land inches short.
Leishman meanwhile gave Lahiri a chance to force a play-off when he saw a 12-foot birdie chance at the 18th land short, but was relieved to see the Indian miss his own gain chance from seven feet.
“It wasn’t so pretty today, I played a lot better the first two days,” Leishman told Sky Sports 4. “I’m really happy to get through the weekend; it’s been a good three days but a lot of work to be done.
“There was a little bit of pressure out there today, but I was able to hole a lot of key putts and I think that’s been key to the victories.”
Strong finish
After tweeting earlier in the day that his dead rubber against Jimmy Walker was going to be “the most pointless round of golf of his life”, Ian Poulter ended his tournament with a convincing 4&2 victory to avoid finishing bottom of Group 11.
The world No 28 got off to a slow start and found himself two down through six, but bogeys from Walker at the seventh and ninth, sandwiched between a Poulter gain, saw the Englishman head to the back nine one ahead.
A birdie at the 11th increased his lead and after Walker dropped another shot at the 15th, Poulter rolled in a six foot putt at the next to seal the win.
Victory sees Poulter end the round-robin format third in his group, with Gary Woodland narrowly beating Webb Simpson 1up in the top-of-the-table clash to progress.
Watch the WGC-Cadillac Match Play live all weekend on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
