RORY McILROY IS through to the next round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, having beaten Denmark’s Anders Hansen 3&2, and will now face Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The Holywood native will go to number one in the world if he wins the tournament, with Luke Donald having already been eliminated by Ernie Els.
The key moment for McIlroy came on the 14th hole when he chipped in, after both men had entered the scrub by the green.
Another man who could go to number one on Sunday, should he win, is Lee Westwood. The Englishman beat Robert Karlsson 3&2 in the second round at Dove Mountain, near Tucson.
Westwood will come up against Nick Watney, who has beaten him for the last two years. Watney dispensed of Tiger Woods, who will not be in the Friday mix for the third year in a row.
“Something I was fighting all day was blocking my putts and I blocked that one,” said the former world number one, having missed a chance to take the closely fought match in sudden death.
Third-round draw and local tee times (GMT is +7hrs):
1050 Martin Kaymer (Ger) v Matt Kuchar
1102 Steve Stricker v Hunter Mahan
1114 Lee Westwood (Eng) v Nick Watney
1126 Martin Laird (Sco) v Paul Lawrie (Sco)
1138 Peter Hanson (Swe) v Brandt Snedeker
1150 Mark Wilson v Dustin Johnson
1202 Rory McIlroy (Nirl) v Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
1214 John Senden (Aus) v Bae Sang- moon (Prk)