Alvaro Quiros holed out for eagle to become the first player into the knock-out stages of the Volvo World Match Play.
Hole-out for eagle puts Spaniard into last 16 of Volvo Match Play
Alvaro Quiros holed out for eagle to become the first player into the knock-out stages of the Volvo World Match Play.
The Spaniard, playing not far away from where he grew up, was already four up on Dane Soren Kjeldsen playing the 14th but slammed the door by spinning his approach shot back into the hole to seal a 5&4 victory.
That made it two wins out of two for Quiros after he beat world number nine Paul Casey on the opening day.
"Obviously I was lucky but I hit a good shot," said Quiros, the only player in the 24-man field to rack up four points after the first two round of matches.
However, despite those back-to-back wins and sixth place in last week's Players Championship at Sawgrass, the big-hitting Spaniard wasn't overly thrilled with his game.
"I played okay on the back nine but the front nine I hit two or three terrible shots," revealed Quiros, who said he would try and make some adjustments on the driving range while Casey and Kjeldsen fought it out in the afternoon for the other place in the last 16.
Battle
Most of the big names were sitting out the second wave of first round matches, but Ian Poulter had a real battle with Scotland's former Open champion Paul Lawrie which eventually finished all square.
Poulter was two up at the turn and later one up with three to play but Lawrie won 16 with a birdie three and the final two holes were halved in par.
Lawrie horseshoed out from six feet on the 17th, but after missing the chance to go in front there he was relieved to get a half-point when Poulter failed from 10 feet at the last.
It was Poulter's second halved game and it meant that as long as there was a winner between Lawrie and Franceso Molinari he would be through.
If they also halved, though, all three would go into a sudden death play-off.
"Paul rallied hard. Hit some good shots at the right time," said Poulter. "A good match, four under par you can't grumble about that on this golf course."
Miguel Angel Jimenez, who thrashed Masters champion Charl Schwartzel on day one, was brought back down to earth as he lost to 2&1 to Swede Johan Edfors.
The Spaniard was four down walking off 11 before winning the next three holes. But his hopes of completing a huge turnaround were dashed when he bogeyed 16 to hand the hole to Edfors, who made par at 17 to close the match out.
All three players in Pool G could still go through although Edfors now only needs a half against Schwartzel.
Crashed out
South African duo Retief Goosen and Louis Oosthuizen both crashed out of the tournament after losing their second successive matches.
Two-time US Open champion Goosen, who started with a defeat against Rory McIlroy, lost at the final hole to Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts after the Belgian closed with a birdie four.
And Oosthuizen, who was two up at the turn, lost out to Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas. The Open champion, a loser against Graeme McDowell on Thursday, was two up at the turn but playing the last all-square he was unlucky to see his approach bound through the green and fall away off a slope and he couldn't get up and down to match Vegas' birdie.
It put McIlroy and Colsaerts through regardless of what happened in their afternoon match.
Defending champion Ross Fisher produced the comeback of the day after recovering from four down against Ryan Moore to win at the last.
Moore was four up after eight and still looked to be coasting to victory when three up with four to play. But he shot himself in the foot with losing bogeys at 15, 16 and 17 before Fisher birdied the last to pinch victory.
That sent Moore - the only American playing this week - crashing out and guaranteed Fisher and Luke Donald a place in the last 16.
Former US PGA champion Yang was knocked out as well after losing his all-Korean clash with Noh Seung-yul. Noh threw in nine birdies and closed out victory by hitting a tee shot to within three feet of the flag on the 17th.
That ensured Noh and Martin Kaymer their last 16 places.
Dane Anders Hansen was the final man to make his exit after some poor putting on the back nine cost him against Aussie Aaron Baddeley.
Both players traded birdies on the front nine but the match deteriorated after that and Hansen - hammered by Lee Westwood on Thursday - missed a five footer on 18 to stay alive.
With Hansen heading home, it meant Westwood and Baddeley were both through even before they teed off in the afternoon game.
It means, going into the final round of group games, the picture looks like this:
Qualified: Lee Westwood, Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Martin Kaymer, Noh Seung-yul, Jhonattan Vegas, Graeme McDowell, Nicolas Colsaerts, Rory McIlroy, Alvaro Quiros.
Out: Anders Hansen, Ryan Moore, YE Yang, Louis Oosthuizen, Retief Goosen
