Rory McIlroy has stormed back from a heavy early deficit to take down Lee Westwood in the semi-finals of the WGC Match Play Championships.
McIlroy was three down through four holes but went on an absolute tear to beat Westwood 3 and 1 on Sunday morning and set up a final match with American Hunter Mahan.
Mahan took care of countryman Mark Wilson 2 and 1 to be the only man standing in the way of McIlroy’s attempt to not only win but also take the world No.1 ranking.
Should the 22-year-old beat Mahan in the afternoon, he will usurp Luke Donald as the world’s premier player, becoming the second youngest player in history to do so behind Tiger Woods.
Westwood won three of the first four holes to take a sizable early advantage.
The Englishman rolled in a four-foot birdie on two, two putted comfortably from distance on three while McIlroy failed to get up and down from a bunker and coaxed another four-foot birdie putt in on four to be 3-up and in control.
But a bogey on the fifth for Westwood allowed McIlroy to finally win a hole and arrest some of the momentum.
McIlroy then nailed a great 29-foot birdie on the par three sixth and when Westwood couldn’t respond from 27 feet, the Northern Irishman was just 1-down – and he’d tied it all up by the eighth hole.
Despite watching Westwood hit an approach to 12 feet on the ninth McIlroy already had a whiff of the blood in the water and stuck his approach inside his opponent at eight feet.
Westwood missed his putt while McIlroy had no such troubles and as such turned with a somewhat unlikely 1-up lead.
After a fortuitous bounce out of the desert on the 11th hole McIlroy scrambled for a half and landed a serious blow when he slammed a 24-foot birdie putt on the par three 12th to go 2-up.
Westwood then found a woman’s shirt with a wayward drive on the 13th and after receiving relief hacked forward into the rough. He found the green with his third shot but couldn’t get a long birdie putt to drop.
Meanwhile, McIlroy continued his march forward by reaching the par five green in two, eventually winning the hole and setting up a decisive 3-up lead.
Westwood tried to rally with an eagle on the drivable par four 15th but it was too little too late and McIlroy closed it out on the 17th hole.
“I was just trying to stay patient and I knew if I just kept chipping away I could get him,” McIlroy said.
“He started well, I didn’t, but I sort of found my rhythm and made some birdies.”
Mahan jumped out to an early advantage and never trailed.
He won the opening hole when Wilson drove the ball into the waste area and ended up with a bogey and then extended the lead to 2-up through as many holes when he nailed a five-foot birdie putt.
Sensing the match getting away early Wilson responded by taking the third hole but Mahan and his red-hot putter returned on the fourth.
He drained a 16-foot birdie putt to once again jump out to a 2-up lead.
Wilson won the fifth, Mahan the sixth and Wilson the 12th to have the lead at just one hole but Mahan pulled away once more when Wilson found bunker trouble on the drivable par four 15th, setting up a 2-up cushion.
