Summary Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler advanced to the third round of WGC Match Play Championship.
MARANA (AFP) - Spanish second seed Sergio Garcia and a resurgent Rickie Fowler advanced to the third round of the $9 million World Golf Championships Match Play Championship with impressive wins on Thursday.
Garcia outlasted American Bill Haas 3 and 1 to book a third-round date with Fowler, who edged out US compatriot Jimmy Walker 1 up, beating a form player and the only man to have won three US PGA Tour events this season.
Haas sank a six-foot eagle putt at the second hole to seize the lead and a par at the seventh put him 2-up, but Garcia eagled to win the eighth and squared the match with a par at 11, then birdied three of the next six holes to take the match.
"He played really well early on, then I was able to go on a very nice run from the eighth hole," said Garcia, adding that he was "very pleased," with the win.
Fowler and Walker each won three of the first six holes in a match that was never more than 1-up in either s favor. Both players missed birdie putts at the 18th but Walker could not make par from 14 feet while Fowler two-putted for par from 51 feet, sinking a six footer to win.
"Finally got the putter to roll a couple in," said Fowler, who in the first round downed the Ryder Cup hero and renowned English competitor Ian Poulter, in a welcome burst of form after several missed cuts on tour.
Fowler, 25, sporting a new short haircut, said he hoped his ability to hold off Walker would give him "a little confidence" going into Friday.
Also through to the last 16 at the 64-player event is seventh-seeded Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who dispatched Swedish 15th seed Peter Hanson 3 and 1.
Event debutante Dubuisson, 23, opened with three birdies but was squared after Hanson birdied three in a row starting at the fifth. A seven-foot birdie at the eighth again gave the Frenchman the lead and he kept it to the end, finishing the match with a 15-foot birdie at 17.
"I did play well," Dubuisson said. "I started the first few holes and I made some good birdies. Then he made three birdies and we were all square. Then I decided just don t watch him play, just play my stroke play and try to make some birdies."
Next up for Dubuisson is American Bubba Watson, last week s PGA winner at Riviera who eliminated Swede Jonas Blixt, 2 up.
