MARANA, Ariz. — Rory McIlroy cares more about reaching the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship than whom he had to beat to get there.

When the 64-man bracket was released at the start of the week, it didn't take long for McIlroy to figure out that his hero, Tiger Woods, might be waiting for him in the third round if both won their opening two matches.

The 19-year-old from Northern Ireland lived up to his end of the bargain. Woods, in his return to golf after eight months away from knee surgery, lost in the second round to Tim Clark.

Not long after McIlroy dispatched Clark in the third round, he was asked if he was disappointed to have not played Woods.

"Yes and no," he said. "I probably would have found it very difficult to play him, with him being a hero of mind for the past 10 years or whatever. So it would have been difficult. But you've got just to go out there and try to play your own game, and play your own ball, and you can't control what the other guy does."

The next opponent should get his attention.

Geoff Ogilvy has emerged as one of the toughest customers in this most unpredictable tournament. He faced Camilo Villegas of Colombia, who had played only 26 holes the first two rounds and never trailed. Ogilvy was 3 up after eight holes, got a little sloppy late in the day, but eased to a 2-and-1 victory.

Ogilvy won the Accenture Match Play Championship in its final year at La Costa in 2006. A year later, he lost in the finals at Dove Mountain. His victory Friday pushed his career record to 14-2, the best winning percentage of anyone — except for those playing for the first time who are still alive (McIlroy and Ross Fisher of England, who defeated Jim Furyk).

What's his secret?

"I just try to win the first hole," Ogilvy said. "And if I don't, I try to win the second hole."

In other words, he's really not sure.

"I enjoy that every hole is like an end point," he said. "You get quite a lot of putts that are must-make putts, and must-make up-and-downs, and we never get those on tour until the last nine holes Sunday. I think when you enjoy something, you do it well."

As for the rest of the quarterfinals:

n Fisher took advantage of some early mistakes by Furyk for a 4-and-3 victory. He was denied an All-England quarterfinal when Justin Leonard won a hardscrabble match with Oliver Wilson, beating him with a par on the 19th hole.

Leonard does not know much about Fisher. Then again, he had never spent much time with Wilson. By the time he gets to lunch Saturday afternoon, don't be surprised to hear the Texan speaking with a British accent.

"Quite possible," Leonard said, doing his best to impersonate a British accent and not doing it well. "That was more Irish, wasn't it?"

This is the second straight year Leonard has reached the quarterfinals.

• Paul Casey, the other Englishman still in the picture, has gone 48 holes without trailing. He was 3 up after four holes against Peter Hanson of Sweden and eased his way to a 3-and-2 victory. Casey also thought he might have an All-England match until Sean O'Hair hit his stride and beat Ian Poulter, 2 and 1.

O'Hair went bogey-par-bogey at the start of his match, then squared the match through eight. He won three straight holes on the back nine, two with birdies, and wound up a 2-and-1 winner.

• Stewart Cink beat Phil Mickelson in the match no one wanted to win.

Cink looked as though he couldn't lose, making three straight birdies to build a 3-up lead. Mickelson battled back, as always, and the match was tied with four holes remaining.

Mickelson then drove into a desert bush on the short 15th and lost the hole. Cink missed the 16th green and made bogey. Then it was Lefty's turn, hitting a poor fairway bunker shot into the waste area.