Desert Rose in full bloom

England's Justin Rose drew first blood in the third round of the World Matchplay Championship with an ultimately facile victory over Charles Howell of the United States in chilly conditions at The Gallery Golf Club in Tucson.

As Padraig Harrington punished himself for his second round loss to Stewart Cink with a lengthy session on the range, Rose dispatched last week's Nissan Open winner 3 and 2 on a day of leaden skies and high winds.

Five up at the turn, Rose maintained that advantage with five to play before Howell gave him a fright by winning three holes in a row and then firing his tee shot to just eight feet at the par three 16th.

But the former Walker Cup star proved equal to the task and triumphantly holed a 15-footer to close out the match and secure a quarter-final showdown with South Africa's Trevor Immelman, who beat Ian Poulter.

"Today was just a complete contrast to how it was yesterday," said a relieved Rose. "It was really tough out there, especially starting out, where there were five or six really tough holes straight into the wind.

"I realised on the front nine that par was going to be a really good score because it was much tougher out there today.

"I felt a little uncomfortable with the putter and it was nice to knock one in there at the 16th when I had to because I didn't fancy going down the 17th with Charles a little longer than me and where he could maybe take advantage of his length."

Rose will face South African Immelman in today's quarter-finals, following his 2 and 1 victory over England's Poulter.

Poulter was two down after just four holes and while he eagled the 10th to get back to one down, he never managed to get back to all square, with the South African closing out the match with a winning birdie at the 17th.

Paul Casey had to work hard to beat American Shaun Micheel in a rematch of the final at the World Match Play Championship last September.

In the end, the outcome was the same, although Casey had to work harder this time, winning two-up.

It came right down to the final hole, where Micheel narrowly missed a 10-foot birdie chance, before sportingly conceding defeat to Casey, who only had to two-putt from nine feet.

"I dodged a bullet there," Casey said. "I was lucky to get away with that."

Casey's quarter-final opponent will be defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, of Australia, who outlasted Swede Niclas Fasth two and one.

Henrik Stenson had no trouble in his match, making short work of Australian Aaron Baddeley, four and three. His quarter-final opponent would be delivered by the outcome of the match between Tiger Woods and Nick O'Hern, which was all square after 18 holes.

O'Hern famously beat Woods 3 and 1 in the second round of this event at La Costa in 2005 and while he has since risen to 16th in the world rankings, he has only managed to win one tournament.

But that hardly seemed to matter as he contrived to go three up after six holes, playing them in a scarcely believable two over par to Woods' four over.

Woods set the tone when he pushed his opening tee shot well right of the fairway and then fell behind for the first time at the fourth, where he pushed his drive into the lake to run up a double bogey six.

O'Hern turned the screw by draining a right-to-left breaking 15- footer for a winning birdie at the par-five fifth.

But worse was to follow for Woods at the sixth, where he carved another missile behind a cactus and finished with another double bogey to go three down.

He followed that with another wayward tee shot into a bush at the seventh, blasting his next shot over the green into a patch of cactus with O'Hern less than two feet away in two.

Four down now, Woods stormed back into the fray with a two at the eighth, draining a 16 footer to reduce the deficit to three holes.

O'Hern has never been the most impressive of players under pressure and he was soon feeling the squeeze as Woods reeled off three consecutive birdies to reduce the gap to the minimum with five to play.

The first blow came at the 533 yard 10th, where O'Hern hit a glorious fairway wood to 23 feet only to see Woods reduce the hole to a three wood and a five iron, his ball nestling 12 feet from the pin.

Both men failed with their eagle putts but the die had been cast and Woods immediately sensed a weakness in his opponent and went for the jugular.

A wedge to 15 feet at the 11th set up another birdie and he followed that with a brilliant pitch and putt birdie from 30 yards at the driveable 12th, where O'Hern left his 20-foot birdie effort six feet short.

Woods drew level on the next but O'Hern regained the lead with one to play. However, a birdie from Woods on the last brought the match beyond the 18th hole.

Results: J Rose (Eng) bt C Howell (US) 3 and 2; T Immelman (SA) bt I Poulter (Eng) 2 and 1; H Stenson (Swe) bt A Baddeley (Aus) 4 and 3. P Casey Bt S Micheel (US) 2 up; G Ogilvy bt Niclas Fasth (Swe) 2 and 1.