McIlroy wins, Tiger falls, Day ousted at WGC-Match Play

Rory McIlroy remained unbeaten, Tiger Woods suffered a critical loss and defending champion Bubba Watson and two-time winner Jason Day were eliminated at the WGC-Match Play Championship.

The 64-player showdown featuring the world ranking leaders at Austin (Texas) Country Club starts with three days of group play to determine 16 berths in weekend knockout matches to decide a champion.

Fourth seed McIlroy defeated South Africa's 47th-seeded Justin Harding 3&2, eagles at the par-5 12th and 16th and a birdie at the par-4 15th tipping a squared match his way to give him a 2-0 record and group lead.

"One of the big things over the last couple of days is I've been happy with how I've responded. I played the shot when I needed to -- I holed the putt when I needed to.

"When I sense a little bit of blood I'm taking my opportunities. Whenever I have to step up and hit a shot on top of a guy I've been able to do that really well."
"All I can do is hopefully get a point tomorrow and see if that's good enough."
"Neither one of us made a lot of putts. It came down to me making a good putt on 16 and that gave me the little bump I needed to win."
- Rose rallies to halve -
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"My goal was to birdie out," Rose said of the final four holes. "You set your intention and forget the rest and that's what happened."
- Grace beats No. 1 DJ -
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