Colin Montgomerie beat Charles Howell III, but Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott all bowed out on day two in Arizona.
Colin Montgomerie produced a storming finish to beat Charles Howell III in the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship and secure what could prove a very important victory in his bid to earn a place at the Masters.
The win guarantees the Scot a top-ten finish at Dove Mountain which will in turn earn him a hefty amount of world ranking points.
Montgomerie, currently sat at 60 in the world, needs to break into the world's top-50 over the next month if he is to claim a place at April's showpiece at Augusta.
A see-saw match with Howell seemed to be going away from him as the American holed a ten-footer at 13 to move 1 up.
But Monty then birdied 14 and 15 and when Howell saw his six-footer for a half at 15 chase around the cup and stay out, the Scot was back in charge.
The next two holes were halved and with two putts from 20 feet at the last to secure victory, Montgomerie - who produced four birdies in six holes from the 12th - sidled his ball up to the hole to close out the contest.
The Scot will take on Stewart Cink in the next round with the American recording a 2 up victory over Padraig Harrington.
The Open champion held the advantage early on, but - reportedly struggling with a neck problem - fell behind on the back nine as Cink fought back strongly.
Harrington scrambled a win at 17 to force the match down the last, but a birdie from Cink at 18 finally extinguished the Dubliner's hopes.
Garcia & Scott bite dust
Sergio Garcia made a red hot start to his game with four birdies and an eagle seeing him move 2 up on Boo Weekley.
But Garcia could not shake off the American who produced some superb golf on the back nine to get himself right back in contention and then ahead.
Indeed, when Weekley holed a putt from off the green at 16 he moved 2 up with two to play and a birdie at 17 sealed a fine 3&1 win.
Another big name to fall was Adam Scott who crashed out at the first extra hole to 44-year-old Woody Austin.
The Australian appeared to have the match very much in hand, leading from an early stage and sitting 2 up through 15 holes.
However, Austin refused to throw in the towel and claimed wins at both 16 and 17 to pull all square.
A superb pitch and brave putt from the American then ensured extra holes and, with Scott failing to get up and down from the sand back at the first, Austin drained a five-footer to cap a superb fightback.
Poulter agony
Ian Poulter produced a fabulous fightback in his match with KJ Choi but ultimately suffered heartbreak at the first extra hole against the Korean
The Englishman had looked dead and buried as he fell four behind through 13 holes, but managed to half the deficit courtesy of a birdie and a poor missed putt by Choi on 15.
A clearly pumped Poulter then won 17 and sunk a cracking 20-footer on the 18th to extend the contest.
However, with both players having found sand from the tee back on the Poulter could not get up and down from the side of the green with his par-putt from five feet sliding past on the low side to gift Choi a dramatic success.
Elsewhere, Paul Casey edged a close match with Welshman Bradley Dredge, eventually recording a 2&1 triumph having trailed a couple of times, Luke Donald lost by the same score to Angel Cabrera, while Aaron Baddeley eased into the next round without striking a ball as his opponent David Toms became the first man in Accenture Match Play history to withdraw having injured his back warming up.
