What a titanic struggle it proved to be between two of the game's longest hitters as Bubba Watson and J. B. Holmes needed an extra hole to decide their Accenture World Match Play quarter-final match.
Yet, early on, few would have predicted the drama about to unfold as Holmes was 5 up after 10 holes, leaving the watching galleries to wonder which pairing to follow next.
But back came Bubba, winning five of the last eight holes to take the match to extra time, where a par against Holmes' bogey gave him the match.
After a 30-minutes break, Watson will play Martin Kaymer in the semi-final after the German beat Miguel Angel Jimenez 1 up in another encounter that went up the 18th. Once again, this scenario seemed unlikely when Kaymer was dormie four at the 14th.
Jimenez, the veteran campaigner, won 15, 16 and 17, leaving it tense up the last. But the Spaniard failed to give himself a birdie chance and could only halve the hole.
Luke Donald looked very tidy in his quarter-final against Ryan Moore, comfortably winning 5&4. Another five birdies for the Englishman were too good for his opponent, and the bookies have Donald as favourite to win his semi-final against Matt Kuchar, who defeated Y. E. Yang 2&1 in a tense encounter.
The American was always ahead in this match and was 4 up at the turn. Yang won a couple of holes on the back nine to make a game of it, but failed to make a birdie after the 10th and put pressure on his opponent.
THE SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP
Luke Donald (Eng) v Matt Kuchar (USA)
Bubba Watson (USA) v Martin Kaymer (Ger)
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