San Francisco, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Rory McIlroy and Jim Furyk picked up easy wins Saturday to move on to the quarterfinals at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship.
McIlroy routed Hideki Matsuyama, 6 & 5, while Furyk ousted fellow American J.B. Holmes, 5 & 3, at TPC Harding Park.
McIlroy moves on to face Paul Casey, who took down former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, 3 & 1. Casey, a two-time runner-up in this event, pushed his record at this tournament to 20-9. Furyk will face Louis Oosthuizen, who held off Rickie Fowler, 1-up.
The other quarterfinal matches will have fellow Englishmen Danny Willett and Tommy Fleetwood facing each other and American Gary Woodland taking on John Senden.
Willett ousted Lee Westwood, 3 & 2. Fleetwood beat Branden Grace. Woodland downed Marc Leishman and Senden held off Hunter Mahan, all by the same 2 & 1 margin.
McIlroy and Matsuyama birdied the first, then McIlroy also birdied the second to move 1-up. The world No. 1 moved 2-up with a birdie at five.
Matsuyama faltered to bogeys at six and seven, then McIlroy birdied the eighth and suddenly was 5-up. They traded birdies at eight and nine, but McIlroy birdied the 12th to push his advantage to 6-up. When they matched pars at 13, the match was over.
Schwartzel and Casey traded the first and second as Schwartzel opened birdie- bogey. Casey took the seventh and ninth to make the turn 2-up. Casey started to pull away as birdies at 10 and 12 push his advantage to 4-up.
However, Schwartzel trimmed his deficit in half with birdies at 14 and 15. Casey was on to the quarters when Schwartzel failed to win the 17th.
Fowler and Oosthuizen both birdied the first, before bogeys at two and three by Fowler gave Oosthuizen a 2-up lead. After Fowler birdied the fourth, Oosthuizen birdied six and seven to move 3-up. Fowler got one back as he birdied the eighth.
The duo traded birdies at 10 and 11. Oosthuizen missed the green at the 13th and that led to a bogey. Fowler then squared the match with a 9-foot birdie putt at the 14th.
At the last, Oosthuizen hit a great second shot from the rough to 19 feet. Fowler missed the green well right and his ball stopped in very thick rough. After a pair chips, Fowler missed a 47-foot par effort and conceded the match to Oosthuizen.
In a matchup of 2008 Ryder Cup teammates, Holmes grabbed the early lead when Furyk tripped to a bogey at the fourth. However, Holmes dropped shots at six and eight to fall from 1-up to 1-down.
Furyk birdied three of the first four holes around the turn to push his lead to 4-up. After they halved 14, Holmes conceded the 15th and the match after making a mess of the hole.
Westwood, a winner in Indonesia last week, birdied the first for a 1-up lead. Willett squared the match with a birdie on No. 5. After five halves in a row, Willett grabbed his first lead thanks to a birdie at the 12th.
Another birdie on No. 15 gave Willett a 2-up lead. Westwood 3-putted for bogey on the par-4 16th to lose the match.
Fleetwood eagled the first to go 1-up on Grace, but Fleetwood dropped a shot at two to square the match. Fleetwood birdied the sixth to move 1-up again, and he led the rest of the way.
Back-to-back bogeys at nine and 10 by Grace dropped the South African 3-down. Grace got one back with a 9-foot birdie putt at the 11th, but they halved the next six holes to give Fleetwood the match.
Mahan, who lost two holes combined in his first three matches, birdied the first and fourth to go 2-up on Senden. After five halves in a row, Senden birdied Nos. 10 and 12 to square the match.
Senden moved 2-up with a birdie at 15 after Mahan bogeyed the 14th. Mahan got one back as he birdied No. 16, but he missed the green at 17 and failed to get up and down for par to give Senden the match.
Woodland won the first two holes, and a birdie at the eighth moved him 3-up on Leishman. The Australian fought back to square the match as he birdied three of four holes from the ninth.
After a pair of halves, Woodland birdied 14 and 15 to move 2-up. Both players missed the green at 17. Leishman rolled in an 11-footer for par to force Woodland to make his 3-foot par putt. Woodland did just that and was off to the quarterfinals.
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