GOLF:THE BACKDROP is distinctly spaghetti western and for a couple of Ulsterman in the Sonoran desert, it was a case of the good, the bad and the downright ugly in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Graeme McDowell felt good about his 4 and 2 win but bad about defeating friend and stablemate Ross Fisher to earn a third round meeting with fellow major winner YE Yang.

In contrast, Rory McIlroy was left to reflect on an ugly 8 and 7 mauling at the hands of Ben Crane – the joint second biggest defeat in the history of the championship.

Despite his loss, McIlroy was surprisingly upbeat afterwards, explaining that there wasn’t much he could do to stop an inspired opponent who was an estimated six-under-par for the 11 holes played.

“Bet you didn’t expect to see me so soon,” McIlroy said with a grin as he greeted his manager on his return to the clubhouse. “I might even have a second breakfast.”

Reflecting on his defeat, he said: “I find this easier to take than getting beaten on the last. He’s a great player. He’s solid and if he plays in spurts like that he is going to be tough to get rid of.

McIlroy lost the first to a par and conceded the third after two visits to the water. He then went three down when Crane birdied the fourth from eight feet and could only look on as the American canned a 15-footer from the fringe at the sixth to extend his advantage to four holes.

Pressing hard, McIlroy drove into the desert at the par-five eighth and lost that hole to a Crane birdie to go five down.

Even when he thought he might have a chance of clawing back a hole at the ninth, Crane drained a birdie putt from 33 feet to go six clear at the turn.

It was all over by that stage but McIlroy speeded up the process at the 10th when he drove into the desert and was forced to take a penalty drop, losing the hole to a par.

It all ended at the par-five 11th where McIlroy pushed his drive into the desert again and eventually conceded when the 35-year old Oregon native hit the green in two to set up his sixth birdie of the day. “It’s matchplay,” McIlroy said. “I have done it to people before and been five and six under through as many holes. This is one of the first times it’s happened to me.

“It wasn’t even momentum. Your opponent just plays better than you and keeps the foot down all the time. When you get up, you just don’t let the opponent get back in and that’s what he did today.

“He just didn’t give me a sniff and I didn’t give myself a sniff either. I just didn’t hit it close enough to have chances for birdie and every time I did have a chance, he rolled it in ahead of me.”

World number four McDowell is not guaranteed to go to third in the world this week but he was amazed to learn that he will be ranked ahead of Tiger Woods following his 4 and 2 win over Fisher.

Asked how it felt to be better than Woods, he said: “Wow. Perhaps I’m a better golfer than him in the last 12 months but he’s definitely the greatest player that’s ever lived.

“It’s very nice . . . It would be nice to slip past Tiger for a little while.”

McDowell took little pleasure from beating a friend but expressed satisfaction that he could win ugly.

One down after a bad tee shot at the first, he went two up after four, saw Fisher bring him back to all square after seven but slowly edged his way in front with wins in par at the eighth and birdie at the ninth to turn two up.

Fisher got him back to one down a couple of times but McDowell won the 14th, 15th and 16th to go further in this championship than ever before.

“The front nine was reasonable quality golf but the back nine disintegrated to a comedy of errors, McDowell said.

“I’m very happy to have survived another day. And it gets fun from here on. It’s nice to be into the Friday match for the first time in this tournament for me. I’ll be lying if I said I felt completely in control of my game this week.”

As for the defeat of close friend McIlroy, McDowell believes that the youngster has to learn to be more dogged in tight situations.

“To be the best Rory can be, he’s got to develop that doggedness side to him,” McDowell said. “He’s one of these guys that makes the game look so incredibly easy.

“It’s tough to sit here and judge the guy . . . Maybe he has to learn how to deal with the tough days and just grind it out.”

The surprises continued in round two with 22-year-old Rickie Fowler firing an eagle and five birdies in a 6 and 5 win over Phil Mickelson.

Paul Casey, the beaten finalist for the past two years, lost 4 and 2 to another youngster in 23-year- old Australian Jason Day.