MARANA, Ariz. New Balance 574 . - Rickie Fowler has a simple approach at the Match Play Championship. "You have got to beat whoever you play in match play or else youre going home," Fowler said Thursday after sending another top player packing. A day after beating European Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter 2 and 1, Fowler edged Jimmy Walker 1 up to set up a third-round match against Sergio Garcia. "Got Sergio tomorrow," Fowler said. "Thats all I know." After Fowler drove left into the desert and lost the short, par-4 15th, he squared the match with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th. He won the par-4 17th with a par and finished off Walker with an 8-foot par putt on the par-4 18th. Fowler missed the cuts in his last three tournaments, while Walker leads the tour with three victories this season and opened with a 5-and-4 victory over Branden Grace. "Its just a couple of bounces here and there — either way, both guys," Walker said. The biggest bounce came on the 235-yard 16th. After Walker hit to about 25 feet, Fowlers ball went right and kicked left of a mound and settled 20 feet from the pin. "Thats just kind of the stuff that happens," Walker said. "He got to watch mine go down there and he ended up making it." Fowler knew he had some margin for error. "Ive seen that kick before and I knew I had room over there," Fowler said. "I was playing a club that was landing maybe front edge and I did miss it a little right of my line, but I knew I had somewhat of a bank there." He took advantage of the break by making the putt. "I told my caddie, Im going to make this one. I knew I needed to," Fowler said. He took the lead on No. 17, getting up-and-down for par from the back fringe. Walker drove into the right rough and his approach went left down a steep slope. "I wanted it to cut a little more," Walker said. "I think it landed right distance-wise, but it was left and took a hard kick to the left." After Walkers pitch went 9 feet past and he missed the putt to the right, Fowler holed a 7-footer to take the lead. "I knew I was going to have to make some putts," Fowler said. Fowler holed out from 69 yards for eagle to win the par-5 second after losing the first. "Good turn of events there," Fowler said. "Hes up there just short of the green. Hes making 4, so I knew I had to get a wedge in there close." Fowler nearly holed another wedge shot on the par-4 14th, hitting to a foot from 134 yards for a birdie win that tied the match. Garcia beat Bill Haas 3 and 1. ___ MR. MATCH PLAY: Defending champion Matt Kuchar birdied the 18th hole to beat Ryan Moore 1 up and improve to 17-3 in the event. "Match play is fun," Kuchar said. "Its unique, its different. We play 72-hole stroke play every week. Its nice to change things up. Certainly makes for a lot of excitement. Its an 18-hole battle." Third in the 2011 tournament, he opened with a 3-and-2 victory over Bernd Wiesberger. Kuchar has won eight straight matches at Dove Mountain and 12 of his last 13. "This course has been good to me," Kuchar said. "Im hoping to keep the good luck going." He set up a match against 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, a 5-and-4 winner over Thomas Bjorn "Man, I got my work cut out for me," Kuchar said. "Hes been playing some awesome golf, hits it a long way and putts it great." Hunter Mahan, the last player to beat Kuchar, is 17-5 in the event after edging Richard Sterne 2 up. Mahan beat Kuchar 6 and 5 in the 2012 quarterfinals en route to the title, and lost 2 and 1 to Kuchar in the championship match last year. "I love playing in this event," Mahan said. Mahan will play Graeme McDowell on Friday. ___ STILL STANDING: Nine of the 27 U.S. players in the 64-man field advanced to the third round, the most Americans to survive the first two rounds since nine also made it in 2004. There have been five all-American matches so far. On Thursday, Rickie Fowler beat Jimmy Walker, Matt Kuchar topped Ryan Moore, and Webb Simpson edged Brandt Snedeker. In two more all-U.S. matches Friday, Kuchar will play Jordan Spieth, and Harris English will face Jim Furyk. Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Victor Dubuisson were the players in Europes 25-man contingent to survive. Justin Rose, the only one of the five English players to win Wednesday, dropped out Thursday, and all three Swedes were eliminated. Three of the six South Africans advanced. U.S. players are 14-7 against European opponents, going 4-1 on Thursday. ___ DIVOTS: Harris English, Jordan Spieth and Victor Dubuisson are the only tournament newcomers to reach the third round. Nineteen players were making their first appearance in the event. ... The second-round losers received $99,000. The winner will get $1.53 million from the $9 million purse. Second place is worth $906,000, third $630,000, and fourth $510,000. The quarterfinal losers will get $280,000, and the third-round losers $148,000. New Balance 574 Trainers UK .Y. -- The bidding for the Buffalo Bills is set to begin now that prospective ownership groups are being contacted by a law firm representing late owner Ralph Wilsons estate. New Balance 574 Trainers Grey .I. -- Andrew Bodnarchuk scored 18 seconds into overtime as the Providence Bruins beat the St.The National Lacrosse League announced a new and expanded playoff format along with division realignment, both set to begin with the upcoming 2014 NLL season. The league will reduce the number of teams who qualify for the playoffs from eight to six teams, featuring the top three clubs in each divisions standings. The two regular season division champions will earn a first-round bye as top seeds. The second seed will host the third seed in their respective division for the single-game elimination Division Semifinal in the first round. New to the postseason format, the Division Finals and Championship both expand to a two-game series from the previous single-game elimination setup. The top seed from each division will play the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. Teams who win both games shall win the two-game series. New Balance 574 Trainers UK Blue. In the event of a series split with both teams winning one game, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following the conclusion of the second contest to determine the winner of the playoff series. Coinciding with the new postseason format, the leagues divisions will realign this season as the Minnesota Swarm join the Buffalo Bandits, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock in the new five-team East Division. The four-team West Division will be comprised of the Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush and Vancouver Stealth. The new playoff format was made official when the league recently reached an accord with the Professional Lacrosse Players Association for a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement through the 2020 NLL season. The 2014 NLL regular season begins on Saturday, Dec. 28. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
