World number one Jordan Spieth bowed out of the WGC-Dell Match Play at the last-16 stage on Saturday as Rory McIlroy remained on course to defend his title at Austin Country Club.
Spieth exits Match Play as McIlroy, Day march on
Two of the world's top three – Rory McIlroy and Jason Day – made it through to the last eight in Austin, but Jordan Spieth was eliminated.
Having come through the initial round-robin stage somewhat unconvincingly, McIlroy was again made to work hard as he extended his winning streak in this competition to 11 matches with a 1up victory over Open champion Zach Johnson.
A stunning approach to three feet at the 18th essentially secured McIlroy's latest triumph and a quarter-final meeting with Chris Kirk, but Spieth – who had not been behind in his previous three matches – bowed out courtesy of a 4 and 2 defeat to another major winner, South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen.
Spieth found himself two down after seven holes this time around and was unable to recover, later telling NBC: "I'm not really sure what happened. Just really an off day. I'd like my off days to be a little more consistent than they have been of late. It's frustrating when you're just so uncomfortable over the ball."
Oosthuizen's win set up a meeting with Dustin Johnson in the last eight – the latter a 3 and 2 winner over the previously impressive Patrick Reed.
In-form US PGA champion Jason Day led from the first hole in a 3 and 2 win against Brandt Snedeker, which put the Australian through to a quarter-final tie with Brooks Koepka, who edged out Matt Kuchar.
The other tie in the quarter-finals, which began almost immediately after the round-of-16 matches, featured two less-heralded players in Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain and Ryan Moore, respective winners against An Byeong-hun – who withdrew with an injury when four down on the 12th – and Patton Kizzire.
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