Both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy got off to late starts at the Match Play Championship after a freak snowstorm and now two of the world's best golfers will be heading home early after being eliminated on Thursday.
According to ESPN.com, with Woods and McIlroy eliminated, it is the first time that the top two players in the world have event ousted at the event in its 15-year history.
Shane Lowry took down McIlroy on the final hole after saving par on a bunker shot, while Charles Howell III was able to eliminate Woods with some solid play down the stretch, including a wedge shot that rested inches from the cup on the 15th hole as well as a 25-foot birdie putt on 16th. Howell took the match 2-and-1 from Woods.
"It's definitely a day I'm going to remember," said Lowry.
"I had nothing to lose," Howell said.
Lowry continued a popular trend and became the third player in the past four events to take down the number one seed in match play. The television coverage over the weekend is likely to suffer, as Woods and McIlroy are gone and Phil Mickelson is not playing this year.
Woods and Howell previously faced off in 1996 when Howell was 17 and he lost in the third round of the U.S. Amateur. He added to reporters that he had never beaten him even in friendly casual games they have played at Isleworth during their careers.
"In this format, match play is crazy," Howell said. "He's Tiger Woods. I was lucky to hang in there."
Howell qualified for the event for the first time in five years and the match was neck and neck through 14 holes before he pulled ahead with back-to-back birdies. Darkness started to set in towards the end of the match and while the players could have stopped, Woods did the honorable thing and played on despite Howell having the momentum. Neither player made a bogey all day and Woods finished at two-under.
"We both played well," Woods said. "He made a couple of more birdies than I did. He played well, and he's advancing."
McIlroy had a solid day as well and was in the lead early in the match at 2-up before Lowry pulled ahead by taking a birdie on the 11th hole, a birdie on the 12th, as well as an eagle on the following hole. Lowry finished things on the final hole with a four-foot putt.
"Deep down, I knew I could beat him," Lowry said. "There's a reason I'm here, and this is match play."