McIlroy, Westwood produce heroics to reach 

last 16 of World Match-play

European Tour Communications

Rory McIlroy produced some late heroics and Lee Westwood claimed the notable scalp of Masters Tournament champion Jordan Spieth as seven European Tour Members reached the last 16 of the WGC-Cadillac Match Play in San Francisco.

Spieth, Westwood, McIlroy and Billy Horschel had all won their first two group matches at TPC Harding Park, meaning Friday's contests would decide which players advanced to the knockout stages.
And after Westwood recovered from losing the first two holes to beat Spieth on the 18th, McIlroy came from two down after 16 to beat Horschel on the 20th hole.
McIlroy holed from 25 feet for birdie on the 17th to keep the match alive and also birdied the 18th as FedEx Cup winner Horschel failed to get up and down from the side of the green.
Both players then missed from 12 feet for birdie on the first extra hole before McIlroy saved par from a greenside bunker on the next and Horschel was again unable to get up and down from off the green.
South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen defeated Bubba Watson on the 19th to set up a clash with Rickie Fowler, but Justin Rose bowed out despite beating Ryan Palmer to claim his second consecutive victory, first-day conqueror Marc Leishman rendering the former US Open champion's result meaningless by beating India's Anirban Lahiri on the 18th to advance with a perfect 3-0 record.
Leishman will face Gary Woodland next after Woodland defeated Webb Simpson on the 18^th. Former champion Hunter Mahan also advanced to the knockout stages with his third win, the American defeating compatriot Matt Kuchar 5 and 4 in Group 14.
Mahan will face Australian John Senden on Saturday morning, Senden and Fowler having already booked their places in the last 16 with a game to spare thanks to victories on the opening two days against the two players who could possibly match their overall record.
Head-to-head results would decide the group winner in the event of two players finishing tied, with the only play-off seeing Branden Grace defeat Zach Johnson and Charley Hoffman with a birdie at the third extra hole to set up a last-16 clash with England's Tommy Fleetwood.
Fleetwood defeated Bernd Wiesberger on the 19th and advanced courtesy of his better head-to-head record with Jamie Donaldson, who had beaten Sergio Garcia.
Elsewhere, Paul Casey had recovered from four down with nine to play to beat Francesco Molinari and set up a meeting with former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, with Jim Furyk winning Group 5 after beating Martin Kaymer on the 20th hole.
Furyk will take on J B Holmes on Saturday after Holmes defeated Brooks Koepka and Russell Henley defeated Scotland's Marc Warren by one hole. 
Warren won one, lost two over his three-match schedule.
Stephen Gallacher's third defeat in a row came at the 20th against Ben Martin.
 
Player Quotes
Rory McIlroy: “Getting up and down out of the bunker on 16 sort of kept me in the match.  And then on 17, he hit a really great shot in there.  And I followed him in and hit a great one, but it just ran on little bit. It was either hole it or go home.  So I just made a really committed stroke, and picked my line, and it was obviously the best putt of the whole day. 
" I thought back to the Ryder Cup, when I holed the putt on 17 green when I was playing with Sergio, because this was sort of a similar situation. I needed to hole out or we were basically going to get beaten, so drew a little bit of inspiration from that.  And then on 18 hit a really good 4‑iron into the green there.  And was a little disappointed with how far I left the putt short.  But it didn't matter in the end and I was somehow able to sneak through on extra holes. I’m delighted to be here, and I look forward to the weekend.

Lee Westwood: “Experience plays a role on any day, really.  But I've had a lot of match play experience, obviously nine Ryder Cups and many world match plays.  I played a lot of match play golf as an amateur, so I know how quickly things can change and what to do at certain times, when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive.  Yeah, certainly the experience is one of the advantages of being 42, I guess.  Not that there are many!

"Jordan is arguably the best player in the world, in my opinion he is the best player in the world at the moment.  But you have to obviously respect that Rory is at the top of the World Rankings.  But he's certainly the hottest player in the world. It was nice being the underdog for a change.  

"It's nice to sort of come into the match play and be the underdog, but well and truly today.  And just went out and tried to play with a bit of freedom and roll positively on the greens and make some nice putts.  We both did.  It was a good match to be involved in.  It could have gone either way, really.”

 To view all Friday's results

CLICK HERE