McDowell gets the best of Lowry in Tucson

Shane Lowry's giant-killing run in Arizona is at an end after he fell to a 3&2 loss to fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Lowry created a stir yesterday as the 64th seed dispatched world number one Rory McIlroy in the first round, but he had no answer as he came up against another Northern Irishman today, with McDowell making four birdies to reach the turn four up.

McDowell made no further gains over the back nine, and saw Lowry close the gap by one when he bogeyed the 15th, but it was all over on the next as both men hit pars.

Next up for McDowell is Australia’s Jason Day, who is through to the last eight for the second time in three attempts after a 4&3 win over Bubba Watson.

Day made six birdies and nine pars in 15 holes as he won seven holes to Watson’s three before his American opponent offered his hand.

Scott Piercy was another giant-killer to bow out in the last 16 as the world number 37 lost by just one stroke in a nail-biter against fellow American Steve Stricker, who hit testing birdies at the last two holes to prevail.

Piercy made headlines yesterday when he crushed third seed and 2011 winner Luke Donald 7&6 but came up short against Stricker, who celebrates his 46th birthday today.

Piercy led by one on three occasions but each time Stricker levelled.

Stricker two-putted the eighth – his 17th – from 33 feet for his first birdie before a 30-footer sealed the victory at the last.

Webb Simpson was the final player to book his place in the quarter-finals as the American finished two up on Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.

The quarter-final action began almost as quickly as the final last-16 match concluded, with Garrigus against Kuchar the first match on the agenda.

Stricker faces Poulter in the second last-eight tie, while McDowell and Day are third up and Mahan and Simpson meet in the final round of the day.