Westwood beats Watney to reach quarterfinals

MARANA, Ariz. -- It's strange territory for Lee Westwood. He's played this tournament before, played the desert course at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. What he hadn't done in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in his 11 attempts was get past the second round.

Westwood, a 3-and-2 third-round winner Friday over Nick Watney, the man who bounced Tiger Woods, said he "had a little chuckle'' a couple of days ago about pre-tournament predictions on The Golf Channel.

And where did they have Westwood? "On the BA [British Airways] 289 on Thursday night,'' the Englishman answered, drawing more than a chuckle.

Westwood, who faces Martin Laird in one of Saturday's quarterfinals, could regain No. 1 in the world ranking a third time if he wins the championship. To do that, he'd likely have to get past Rory McIlroy, who similarly could move to No. 1 by winning the Accenture final.

In one of those only-in-golf matchups, McIlroy, 22, was a 3-and-1 winner over Miguel Angel Jimenez, the Spaniard with the ponytail, paunch and gray goatee, who at 48 is more than twice Rory's age.

"He doesn't go away,'' McIlroy said of Jimenez. "He was very nice. He's one of the most popular guys on tour and everyone likes him. Yeah, he's a gentleman and I appreciated that.''

McIlroy next faces unheralded South Korean Sang-Moon Bae, a 1-up winner over John Senden.

Three Americans, Mark Wilson, Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan, made it to the quarters, but at least one will make it no farther, since Kuchar, a 4-and-3 winner over Martin Kaymer, and Mahan, who beat Steve Stricker 4 and 3, are matched. Wilson, who defeated Dustin Johnson, 4 and 3, plays Peter Hanson of Sweden.

Westwood won the first two holes against Watney with birdies and never was caught. He had seven birdies total in the 16 holes against the golfer who had beaten him in 2010 and 2011.

"He knocked me out the last two years,'' Westwood said of Watney. "It's nice to not make that hat trick and win.''

Said Watney: "I'm disappointed I didn't give him a better match . . . Well, I didn't play that poorly. I mean this is such a strange event because you can shoot even par and win, and I think I was a couple under today, maybe. But obviously, I got trounced.''

Against Kaymer, the German who lost in last year's final to Luke Donald, Kuchar made only one bogey, on 12, and by then he was 4-up. He followed on 13 with his fifth birdie of the round.

"I feel like I'm playing good,'' Kuchar said. "I feel like each match, I'm playing better and better.''