JOIN USThe sheer lottery of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship was again front and centre on Thursday as top seeds Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were all eliminated in the second round.
Swede Stenson, seeded one this week, never led before going down 4&3 to South African Louis Oosthuizen while fourth-seeded Northern Irishman McIlroy lost a see-sawing encounter with American Harris English after 19 holes.
In the final match of the day at Dove Mountain, US Open champion and second seed Rose was pipped by Els after 20 closely contested holes, the big South African sealing victory with a magical birdie at the par-five second.
Rickie Fowler continued his giant-killing ways with a one-up win over in-form fellow American Jimmy Walker and will next meet Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who beat his good friend Bill Haas of the United States 3&1 on the second day of the event.