Friday 1 May 2015 15:31, UK
Rory McIlroy set up a showdown with Billy Horschel for a place in the last 16 of the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship after clinching his second win in two days in San Francisco.
The world No 1, who opened with a comfortable win over Jason Dufner, held off a valiant fightback from Brandt Snedeker to record a 2up victory on the final hole at TPC Harding Park, while Horschel also maintained a perfect record with a 3&2 win over Dufner.
McIlroy was two ahead with eight to play before Snedeker threatened an upset with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 to draw level, but the top seed rolled in a 15-foot putt for a winning birdie at 15 and closed out the match at the last.
Horschel and McIlroy will face each other in match play for the first time since their ill-tempered clash at the 2007 Walker Cup, where McIlroy felt the American went too far with his celebrations.
"We played two matches; he won the first and I won the second," McIlroy told Sky Sports 4. "We are good now but back then we were both a little younger and more emotional. It was pretty heated. I don't think tomorrow will be quite like that but you need to win or you are going home."
Horschel added: "I know he is going to be amped up to play me and I am going to be amped up to play him. We have a track record together and when we have played each other we've played our best golf and I would not expect anything less tomorrow."
Paul Casey also claimed his second win of the tournament after a tense battle with Adam Scott that went to the final hole, but the Englishman - a two-time runner-up in the event - needs another victory over Italy's Francesco Molinari on Friday to qualify for the last 16.
Destiny
"Luckily I am in control of my own destiny but I feel like I need to pick it up a little bit," Casey said. "It's been okay but needs to get better."
Rickie Fowler became the first player guaranteed to advance to the knockout stages after holing a number of long-range putts in his one-up win over Irishman Shane Lowry.
"I feel bad to do that to him but it was nice to finally make some putts," Fowler said. "It would have been nice if we were throwing birdies at each other but my back was up against the wall and I needed to make those putts for par to keep the match going."
Fowler will finish top of Group 13 regardless of the outcome of Friday's matches. He could finish level on points with Lowry and Harris English if he loses to Graeme McDowell, but Fowler would go through on the head-to-head ruling.
John Senden also booked his place in the last 16 after following up his win over world No 3 Henrik Stenson with a convincing 4&3 victory over Bill Haas, but Scotland's Marc Warren wasted a golden chance to progress with a day to spare.
Warren, who beat JB Holmes in his opening match, was three up with three to play against Brooks Koepka only to falter down the stretch as he bogeyed the 16th and 17th.
The 34-year-old from Glasgow then gifted Koepka another hole when he three-putted the final green for par after Koepka had got up and down from a greenside bunker for a birdie, and the American did the same at the first extra hole to snatch an unlikely win.
Warren must now beat Russell Henley on Friday and hope that JB Holmes defeats Koepka, which would result in Warren, Koepka and Holmes competing in a play-off to decide the Group 12 winner.
Live coverage of day three in San Francisco begins Friday at 10pm on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
