Jason Day moved into the round of 16 at the World Golf Championships Match Play event on Friday after an extra-holes victory over American rookie Russell Henley.
In a tight-fought match, Day needed 19 holes to dispatch the recent US PGA Tour winner – after Henley birdied the last in regulation – to book a showdown with Masters champion Bubba Watson in the next round.
“I think Russell only missed one green today, which was very, very frustrating on my side, because he hit it great, so that means you have to make birdies,” Day said.
“I just did enough today to win. He was clutch on 18 to actually hole the putt and get it back to all square. Fortunately, I hit a nice tight one into the 19th hole, and he missed his birdie putt and I holed one, which was nice.”
The news wasn’t as good for the lone other Australian left in the $US8.5 million ($A8.35 million) event with Marcus Fraser going down 4 and 3 to Swede Fredrik Jacobson.
Day took an early lead in his match when he expertly pitched to four feet from in front of the par-5 second and Henley was unable to make par.
But the match swung on a couple of poor swings from the Australian on the fifth and sixth holes.
The Queenslander short-sided himself with a miss left on his approach on the fifth and couldn’t make par from 25 feet to see the match squared and then his tee ball on the par-3 sixth came up short and plugged deep in a bunker.
Day struggled to get out and, while he made the putting surface in three, it was for nought as Henley drained a 16-foot birdie putt to go 1-up.
The pair then halved the next five holes, going shot for shot in a clinical battle until Day made a move on the par-3 12th.
The 25-year-old hit a precision eight-iron to five feet and made the birdie to square the match and wrestle the momentum back.
When Henley horseshoed a four-foot par putt on the 13th, Day was back in the lead and he seemingly stepped on the throat when he took the 14th for a 2-up advantage.
Day made a great 25-foot putt for birdie with Henley just 10 feet from the hole and watched the American miss. But just as he looked headed to victory, Day blocked his tee shot right into the desert on 15 and, after a couple of hacks, conceded the hole.
Henley missed another opportunity to halve the match on 16 and Day made a clutch up and down from the waste area on 17 to remain 1-up with one to play.
Henley’s tee ball on 18 found the fairway bunker while Day laid back in the fairway and hit a safe approach to 22-feet, only to see the American hit it tight from the sand to 14-feet.
When Day missed his putt, Henley duly waltzed in and made the clutch birdie to send the match back down the first.
But Day calmed himself and, when Henley missed a birdie putt from 15 feet, the Australian converted his from eight feet to claim the win.
Fraser found himself 2-down after the opening two holes and was unable to fashion any birdies to claw his way back, losing his match on the 15th hole. His second-round exit should still be enough to move him to 51st in the world, closer still to the top 50 and a Masters berth.
After Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were booted out in round one, the upsets continued in round two with third seed Luke Donald, fourth seed Louis Oosthuizen and fifth seed Justin Rose all losing.