Accenture Match Play: Third-round notebook

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MARANA, Ariz. -- If extra holes are required to determine a winner in any matches on Saturday and Sunday, players will play the 493-yard, par-4 10th hole at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain first. If still undecided after 19 holes, matches will continue on the back nine rotation.

• Updated all-time Accenture Match Play Championship records for the eight remaining players:

Attendance:
Monday: 5,570 (5,000 in 2008)
Tuesday: 7,610 (7,500 in 2008)
Wednesday: 13,620 (12,500 in 2008)
Thursday: 14,120 (12,500 in 2008)
Friday: 11,130 (12,500 in 2008)

• One match went extra holes Friday: Justin Leonard defeated Oliver Wilson in 19 holes. Nine matches have gone extra holes so far this week, bringing the total to 84 for Accenture Match Play Championship history.

• The 2006 Accenture Match Play Championship winner and 2007 runner-up, Geoff Ogilvy (No. 8), is the highest-ranked seed to survive.

• The lowest-ranked player to survive the third round was Sean O'Hair (No. 47), who defeated Ian Poulter (No. 31), 2 and 1. The lowest-ranked player to win the Accenture Match Play Championship is No. 62 Kevin Sutherland, who won in 2002. No. 55 Steve Stricker won in 2001, and No. 52 Ogilvy won in 2006.

• Breakdown of 2009 field of 64 players:
To start the first round:
International players: 47
United States players: 17
Countries represented: 19 (ties the most in tournament history, 2006)
Largest international contingent: Australia and South Africa, 8 each

After the third round:
International players: 5 of the 11 players won their third-round match
United States players: 3 of the 5 players won their third-round match
Countries represented: 5 of the 19 still in the field
Largest international contingent following the second round: 2, England

• Winners of the eight third-round matches by country (Number of players initially in the field in parentheses):
Northern Ireland (2) Rory McIlroy
England (7) Paul Casey, Ross Fisher
Australia (8) Geoff Ogilvy
South Africa (8) Ernie Els
United States (17) Stewart Cink, Justin Leonard, Sean O'Hair

• The largest margin of victory on Friday was 4 and 3, recorded by Ross Fisher over Jim Furyk; and Rory McIroy over Tim Clark.

• There were three "upsets" Friday: Sean O'Hair (No. 47) over Ian Poulter (No. 31); Ross Fisher (No. 35) over Jim Furyk (No. 14); and Stewart Cink (No. 21) over Phil Mickelson (No. 5).

• First-time Participants:
Of the 12 first-time participants this week, six won their first-round matches and three survived the second round. Of those three, two made it through to the quarterfinals: Ross Fisher and Rory McIlroy

Those two players will be trying to match Toru Taniguchi (2001), Pierre Fulke (2001), Scott McCarron (2002), Peter Lonard (2003), Geoff Ogilvy (2006) as the only players in tournament history to advance beyond the quarterfinals in their first start.

No one (other than Jeff Maggert in the first event in 1999) has won the Accenture Match Play Championship in his first start.

Among first-time participant winners on Friday, England's Ross Fisher (No. 35) def. USA's Jim Furyk (No. 14), 4 and 3; and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (No. 16) def. South Africa's Tim Clark (No. 32), 4 and 3.

Among first-time participant losers, England's Oliver Wilson (No. 43) lost to USA's Justin Leonard (No. 27) in 19 holes.

Stewart Cink
Cink advanced to the quarterfinals for the second time in 10 starts and the second year in a row. After going extra holes in the first two rounds (defeated Richard Sterne in Round 1 after 19 holes; defeated Lee Westwood in Round 2 after 23 holes), Cink went to the 18th hole in his match Friday with Phil Mickelson. With 60 holes played in three days, Cink is right up there with most holes played in the first three rounds, behind the record of 62 set by Vijay Singh in 2008; and 61 set by Geoff Ogilvy in 2006 and Chad Campbell in 2005).

Cink will face Ernie Els Saturday in a potential Presidents Cup preview match. The two have never squared off in match-play competition at either the Accenture Match Play Championship or The Presidents Cup.

Cink uses a long putter. If he should go on to win this event, he would be the first to do so using a long putter in tournament history. (Kevin Sutherland used the "claw" grip when he won in 2002.)

Geoff Ogilvy
Geoff Ogilvy, the lone Australian left in the field, continues his stellar play at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Now with a 14-2 record, Ogilvy has the highest winning percentage (87.5 percent) of any player in the event history with more than 10 wins on his resume. Second is Tiger Woods (32-7, 82.05 percent), followed by David Toms (23-8, 74.2 percent).

Ogilvy will certainly have the advantage of experience Saturday in his match against 19-year-old Rory McIlroy. This is Ogilvy's third trip to the quarterfinals, and he's won the previous two.

Ernie Els
With a win over Luke Donald Friday (after Donald conceded the match before he hit his tee shot on the 18th hole due to a recurring wrist injury), Ernie Els advanced to the quarterfinals for the first (and only other) time since 2001. That year, Els defeated Craig Stadler, 1 up, but lost in the semi-finals against Pierre Fulke.

Els won the CA Championship in 2004. A win this week would make him only the fourth player to win more than one official World Golf Championships event (joining Tiger Woods, 15; Darren Clarke, 2; Geoff Ogilvy, 2). Els won the World Cup with Retief Goosen in 2001 when the event was a World Golf Championships event.