Louis Oosthuizen sent Jordan Spieth crashing out of the World Golf Championships Match Play yesterday, reaching the quarter-finals with a 4 and 2 triumph over the world number one.
Spieth had cruised into the round of 16 at Austin Country Club in his home state of Texas, never trailing in three wins in three round-robin matches.
“I was by far the underdog. Jordan didn’t play great but he put a lot of pressure on me with a few long putts he made early on,” 2010 British Open champion Oosthuizen told the Golf Channel.
“I played really solid. I’m not making a lot of putts at the moment but I’m giving myself opportunities and that’s all I can do.”
Oosthuizen reached the quarter-finals for the third straight year.
Spieth, who hadn’t made bogey at the first six holes in his first three matches, bogeyed the fourth to fall 1 down.
Oosthuizen held onto the lead as Spieth scrambled through stretch that included two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey at the 11th, with the South African nabbing three birdies in the last five holes to seal it.
“He put a lot of pressure on me with a few long putts he made early on,” Oosthuizen said. “I just tried to give myself as many putts for birdies as I could.”
Oosthuizen, the 16th seed, faces another tough match-up in the afternoon quarter-finals against eighth-seeded American Dustin Johnson, who downed ninth-seeded Patrick Reed 3 and 2.
Second-seeded Australian Jason Day and third-seeded defending champion Rory McIlroy both advanced.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy emerged with a 1 up victory over reigning Open champion Zach Johnson in tight tussle that featured seven lead changes.
Johnson had rolled into the knock-out stage having played just 42 holes in three round-robin matches—and hadn’t even seen the last three holes of the course in competition.
The match was all square through 12, but Johnson bogeyed 13 and 15 to fall 2 down and pulled back a hole with a birdie at 16.
Johnson rolled in a 21-foot birdie putt at the last, but McIlroy made his own birdie putt from within four feet to seal the win.
“We both didn’t really have our best stuff, but I definitely produced it when I needed to at the last. I’m just lucky to get through to the afternoon,” said McIlroy, who next plays American Chris Kirk, a 2 and 1 winner over Bill Haas.

Day cruises into quarters
Day, the 2014 Match Play winner, won the first hole with a par and led the rest of the way in a 3 and 2 victory over American Brandt Snedeker.
Day closed out the match with an eagle at the 16th and in the afternoon quarters will face Brooks Koepka, who defeated fellow American Matt Kuchar 1 up.
Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello advanced to the quarters when South Korean An Byeong-Hun withdrew from their match with a neck injury, An was four down through 11 holes when he called it quits at the 12th.
Cabera Bello, who made five birdies on the front nine, not only advanced but also earned a Masters berth by reaching the last eight, which insures he’ll move into the top 50 in the world rankings next week.
He booked a quarter-final clash with Ryan Moore, a 4 and 3 winner over fellow American Patton Kizzire.