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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

MARANA, Ariz. -- Sure, the field features 64 of the top 65 players in the world. And yes, he had just dispatched third-ranked Phil Mickelson, the reigning Masters champion, by a 3-and-1 score.

Justin Rose, though, didn't want to play the name game as he assessed his chances at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

"I think reputations don't mean anything this week, and that's certainly been my attitude coming into it," he said. "For me it's a good win. Obviously it's always nice to beat a player who's obviously won majors and stuff like Phil has.

Justin Rose notched the upset of the day when he knocked off Phil Mickelson. (Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

"Really I'm looking at it as a golf tournament not sort of as a who's who list of players."

Still, there was no escaping the magnitude of the upset -- one of several in Thursday's second round that also saw No. 2 Jim Furyk, No. 7 Vijay Singh and four other players ranked among the top 10 in the world sent packing.

Mickelson was top-seeded in the Ben Hogan bracket while Rose came in at No. 9.

Mickelson was red-hot, too. He had won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am two weeks ago and lost the Nissan Open in a playoff on Sunday.

Not to mention, the strapping left-hander was clearly the crowd favorite. That's the case more often than not wherever Mickelson plays, but is magnified in the Grand Canyon State where he attended college.

"Obviously, a bit one sided, but to be expected, I think," Rose said, laughing. "I heard a lot of ... Sun Devils and all that stuff."

Things don't get any easier for Rose, either. He faces Charles Howell III, who beat Mickelson in a playoff at the Nissan Open on Sunday, in the "sweet 16." Howell, who leads the FedExCup standings, also has two second-place finishes already this year.

Howell beat Ryder Cup standout Sergio Garcia 4 and 3 in his second round match.

"I think Charles (is) possibly (the) best player in the world right now other than Tiger, let's say, and it's going to be a tough game," Rose said. "He's obviously playing well very, very well, striking the ball well.

"He's been in contention a lot, and it looks like he's putting well to me. It's going to be a tough game. I think it's going to be a game like today where you've got to go out there and expect to make birdies."

The match between the soft-spoken Englishman and the Arizona State product was nip-and-tuck until late in the back nine. Mickelson held the edge throughout most of the front nine, and neither player led more than 1 up until Rose won the final two holes.

As much as he liked the finish, though, the start of the match left something to be desired for the 26-year-old Rose.

The first hole was what Rose called a "classic match play flip." Mickelson was in trouble at the first hole where he had to punch out from under a tree beside the green. But he recovered well and drained a 25-footer for birdie while the 26-year-old Rose couldn't coax his 14-footer into the hole.

Rose responded, though, by hitting his approach at the par-4 second hole to gimme distance at 18 inches to square the match before losing the next hole when he couldn't save par when from over the green.

"Obviously I felt kind of a routine up and down on the first and a routine up and down on the third and I didn't make either, and I kind of felt to myself you can't give Phil Mickelson too many chances like that," Rose said.

"So I knew from that point on I kind of had to tighten up a little bit."

Rose gained his first advantage in the match with a string of three straight birdies that began at the 10th hole. The first, a two-putt from 55 feet, squared the match; the second from 13 feet put him 1 up and the third matched Mickelson's birdie and kept Rose ahead.

A clutch par at the 435-yard, par-4 15th hole proved to be the key for Rose. He had hit his tee shot right into the desert and had to chip back into the fairway. Mickelson, meanwhile, hit what Rose called "maybe his best tee shot of the day, just like a little flick wedge into the green."

Rose didn't help his cause when he hit an indifferent 8-iron to 35 feet. Mickelson, though, was just outside him and gave Rose a bit of a read on the putt. The Englishman drained it for par, and went to the 16th hole retaining his 1 up advantage.

"That was the game right there in a nutshell," Rose said of the 15th hole. "That was the first putt I've made in two days of any distance."

A sensible iron shot at the par-3 16th left Rose with a 20-footer for birdie. Mickelson fired at a pin tucked on the lower right portion of the green and just carried the putting surface, then chipped long and made bogey so Rose was 2 up with two left.

The match ended when Mickelson found the greenside bunker at the par-5 17th hole and couldn't get up-and-down for birdie. Rose's 4-footer was conceded to account for the 3-and-1 tally and his first trip to the sweet 16.

"You sort of reset the dial and go into tomorrow," Rose said. "You know, it's a new game. The thing with match play is you never quite know what to expect. I think all you can do is go out there, play hard and give it 100 percent, and that's it, really."