JOHNSON WAGNER LEADS US PGA TOUR EVENT IN MEXICO

American Johnson Wagner leads by one shot after 54 holes of the US PGA Tour event down Mexico way - the Mayakoba Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun.
He has shot 69, 68 and 65 for 13-under-par 200, dislodging the halfway leader Chris Stroud who is now in second place on 201. A shot further back come Bobby Gates, Spencer Levin and Jarrod Lye.

LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71). Yardage: 6,923.
$666,000 to the winner.
200 Johnson Wagner (US) 69 66 65.
201 Chris Stroud (US) 68 63 70.
202 Bobby Gates (US) 70 68 64, Spencer Levin (US) 68 67 67, Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 69 66 67.
MISSED THE CUT (142 or better qualified)
145 Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 74 71.
148 John Daly (US) 73 75.
152 Michael Sim (Australia/Scotland) 73 79.

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KAYMER NOW WORLD NO 1 AS HE MEETS DONALD IN FINAL

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
By Gary Van Sickle, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated
MARANA, Arizona — Golf has a new No. 1 player. It's Martin Kaymer, the 26-year-old German from Dusseldorf, after he beat Bubba Watson in a tough match and advanced to Sunday's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship final against England's Luke Donald, pictured right by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography.
The win meant Kaymer will pick up enough points to slip past current No. 1 Lee Westwood, who was eliminated in the second round.
"It is a very proud moment for me, my family, all the people who helped me, and Germany, as well," he said. "To be the second one to do it is a nice feeling."
Bernhard Langer was the first German to reach No. 1.
Kaymer has reached the top with an impressive mix of power and precision. He's reasonably long off the tee, accurate with his irons and an outstanding putter. That combination was too much for Watson, who rallied from five down with eight holes to play to knock out J.B. Holmes in the Saturday morning quarter-finals.
Watson's semi-final match in the afternoon against Kaymer was all square with four holes to play. At the drivable par-4 15th hole, however, Watson sliced his shot left of the green into desert shrubbery and was forced to take a penalty drop. Kaymer got up-and-down from a bunker for birdie and a one-hole lead.
At the par-3 16th, a gust of wind caught Watson's tee shot and sent it long, just over the green. Watson failed to get up-and-down, and he went two down after Kaymer made par.
But Watson fought back with a clutch 6ft birdie putt on No. 17 to keep the match alive. On 18, Watson's run ended when the hole was halved with pars. Kaymer advanced to the final match — and earned the No. 1 ranking.
One question nobody stops to ask is this: Why are world ranking points even awarded for the Match Play Championship?
Given match-play's odd nature — a player who wins this week only has to beat six opponents, versus 155 in a regular stroke-play event. It doesn't seem right to award points at this event.
When Kaymer won last year's US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, for instance, he beat one of the strongest fields of the year. He outscored them all, except for Watson, whom Kaymer defeated in a play-off.
To reach the final this week at Dove Mountain, Kaymer defeated (in order) Seung-yul Noh, Justin Rose, Hunter Mahan, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Watson. Good golfers, all, but Mahan, at 18th, was the highest-ranked player among his victims.
So let's get this straight — Kaymer moves up to No. 1 this week even though he didn't beat anyone ranked among the top 15 in the world? He didn't even beat the man on top, Westwood. He didn't beat No. 3 Graeme McDowell or Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. All of the top players were here, yes, but Kaymer didn't have to face any of them.
And if he did beat them in an 18-hole match, how much would that mean? It's only 18 holes. The world rankings are based on 72-hole, stroke-play tournaments. Counting 18-hole match results, which players here admit is a little more than a coin toss, is the equivalent of declaring a winner after the first quarter of a American football game.
In my opinion, points should be awarded from this tournament, especially since the points have become so important for filling out the fields for big tournaments.
J B Holmes, for instance, needed to reach the semi-finals to get into the next World Golf Championship event at Doral.
It was pretty easy to make the case that Kaymer already was the No. 1 player in the world last year. He amassed more world ranking points in 2010 than anyone else. And the fact that he's arriving at No. 1, even if belatedly, means that the current system gets a lot of things right. That said, there is no perfect system for golf rankings. College football and basketball rankings are weekly polls taken after regularly scheduled games. Golfers like Woods sometimes go weeks without playing. Golf isn't like NASCAR, where all the top drivers run every event.
So there are going to be inconsistencies like Westwood being No. 1 last year, even though he didn't win a major championship while Kaymer and McDowell did. How important should winning be versus consistently high finishes? Should a player who dominates a tournament and wins by six or eight shots earn exactly the same number of points as a player who ekes out a win in a three-man play-off?
But, for now, forget about the rankings and enjoy what should be a fascinating final match, especially if the predicted nasty weather arrives.
We've got an all-European final on Sunday between a pair of Ryder Cup team-mates.
"He is one of the nicest guys out here and a very good match-play player," Kaymer said of Donald. "We're playing for a big trophy here."
No matter what happens, Kaymer will be No. 1 — even if Donald drums him 7 and 6.
Final Prediction:
So far, it's been Donald starring in "Unstoppable." He birdied 13 of the 27 holes he played Saturday. He birdied 27 of the 73 holes he played during the week, with only four bogeys. Donald knows the secret to match play is not to give away holes, which he excels at due to his fantastic short game.
Kaymer is a tough customer, but he looked a little fatigued by the end of his match against Watson. Donald played only 27 holes Saturday. Kaymer played all 36. My Pick? Luke Donald to win.
SATURDAY RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
L Donald (Eng) bt R Moore (US) 5 and 4.
M Kuchar (US) bt Y E Yang (SKor) 2 and 1.
M Kaymer (Ger) bt M A Jimenez (Spa) 1 hole.
B Watson (US) bt J B Holmes (US) at 19th.
SEMI-FINALS
Donald bt Kuchar 6 and 5.
Kaymer bt Watson 1 hole.

LUKE DONALD ONLY BRITISH PLAYER IN MATCH-PLAY LAST EIGHT

FROM THE BBC SPORTS WEBSITE
Luke Donald brushed past Italian teenager Matteo Manassero to reach the quarter-finals of the WGC Match Play at Dove Mountain, Arizona but Graeme McDowell crashed out.

England's Donald is the only UK player left after ousting 17-year-old Manassero 3 and 2, while Northern Ireland's McDowell lost by the same margin to Korea's Y E Yang.

Matt Kuchar beat US Ryder Cup team-mate Rickie Fowler 2 and 1 and two-time tournament champion Geoff Ogilvy lost 6 and 4 to Bubba Watson.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Germany's Martin Kaymer also won and will meet each other in the round of the last eight.

Jimenez was imperious in an 8 and 6 victory against American Ben Crane, the man who thrashed Rory McIlroy 8 and 7, while Ryder Cup team-mate Kaymer came back from two down after 12 to beat American Hunter Mahan 2 and 1.

US-based Donald, pictured, who has not trailed in any of his three matches so far, marched into his first WGC Match Play quarter-finals with a commanding display at the Ritz-Carlton Club in Arizona.

The 33-year-old will move to third in the world behind Lee Westwood and Kaymer, with McDowell fourth, should he win the title on Sunday.

Kaymer, meanwhile, will leapfrog Westwood to world number one if he reaches the final.

In the quarter-finals, Donald will play Ryan Moore, who beat fellow American Nick Watney at the 19th, while Yang will take on Kuchar and Watson will tackle fellow big-hitter JB Holmes, who beat Australian Jason Day by one hole.
Donald birdied the first and fourth to take an early lead over Manassero, who despatched Steve Stricker and Charl Schwartzel to reach the third round.
But the 2009 British amateur champion bogeyed the fifth to go three down and another superb approach gave Donald a four-hole lead after the seventh.
The Italian, already a European Tour winner in his nine-month professional career, grabbed a hole back with a birdie at the eighth but was five down after 10.
Manassero chipped in for eagle to cling on at the 13th and the pair halved the 14th. Donald missed a long putt to win the match on 15 as Manassero made a birdie from six feet to stay alive at three down.
On the short 16th, Manassero needed to hole from 60ft to keep the match going, but he missed and Donald, secured the half in 3s for overall victory.
"I just played nicely throughout the bag really," said Donald, the world No. 9. "Five birdies, no bogeys - I made Matteo work for it.

"I worked hard in the off season and it's nice to see it paying off."
 McDowell, who claimed the winning point against Mahan in the 2010 Ryder Cup, was never ahead against 2009 US PGA champion Yang.
He was two down after eight before clawing himself back to level at the 10th and then again at the 12th. But Yang, who overhauled Tiger Woods to clinch his sole major title, inched ahead with birdies on 14 and 15 before chipping in for another birdie to seal the match on 16.
Kaymer was locked in a tight tussle with Mahan and was two down with six holes left, but he scrapped back to level on the 14th before snatching the 16th and 17th.

Kuchar was always in control against Phil Mickelson's conqueror Fowler, despite the 22-year-old battling back from two down to reach the turn all square.

Fowler went through a sticky patch at the beginning of the back nine and found himself three down by the 12th. The margin was back to one down after 16 before a bogey on the next handed Kuchar the win.

The weekend schedule has been altered to cater for a forecast of strong winds, rain and even snow flurries in the Arizona desert.

Both the quarter-finals and semi-finals will now be played on Saturday, starting at 1410 GMT and 1845 GMT respectively.

The final, which is being staged over 18 holes instead of 36 holes for the first time this year, will tee off at 1915 GMT on Sunday.

"The goal is to finish the championship by Sunday night," said US PGA Tour rules official Steve Carman.

"With the forecast tomorrow of high winds in the afternoon, there's some uncertainty whether we'd be able to play golf because of the balls moving on the greens."
Third-round results:
Bubba Watson (US) bt Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 6 and 4.
Matt Kuchar (US) bt Rickie Fowler (US) 2 and 1.
Y E Yang (SKor) bt Graeme McDowell (NI) 3 and 2.
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) bt Ben Crane (US) 8 and 6.

Luke Donald (Eng) bt Matteo Manassero (Ita) 3 and 2

J B Holmes (US) bt Jason Day (Aus) 1 hole. 

Martin Kaymer (Ger) bt Hunter Mahan (US) 2 and 1

Ryan Moore (US) bt Nick Watney (US) at 19th.
Quarter-finals:
Donald v Moore (1410 GMT)
Yang v Kuchar (1422 GMT)
Jimenez v Kaymer (1434 GMT)
Watson v Holmes (1446 GMT)