McIlroy, Westwood will battle for No. 1

• By Ryan Ballengee
• Feb 25, 2012 6:02 PM ET

Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood will battle on Sunday morning at the WGC-Accenture Match Play for the right to play for the No. 1 ranking in the world.

No. 2 McIlroy and No. 3 Westwood dispatched of their quarterfinal opponents by the same margin – 4 and 2 – to set up a semifinal match at Dove Mountain. Neither had their best on Saturday, but played well enough to reach the final four in the 64-man event.

On the opposite side of the draw, wins by Mark Wilson and Hunter Mahan guarantee an American will reach the final of the match play event for the first time since 2008. Playing in the morning pair of matches, the Americans won handily and quickly. (Click for: Running blog | Scoring)

PLAYER: Rory McIlroy (1) d. Sang-Moon Bae (11), 4 and 2 – A mediocre match on the front nine, McIlroy had a 1-up advantage at the turn. McIlroy wore Bae down, however, after the Korean squared the match at No. 10. The U.S. Open champion won four of the last six holes to reach the semifinals, all taken with birdies or concessions.

SNEAD: Lee Westwood (1) d. Martin Laird (10), 4 and 2 – Westwood and Laird were even for the first handful of holes on the heels of missed chances by Laird. As Laird wavered into the closing third of the match, Westwood took four of the next five holes. Laird won just one more hole, unable to mount a charge.

JONES: Mark Wilson (10) d. Peter Hanson (9), 4 and 3 – Hanson had not trailed in his first three matches. He never led in this one. The duo were tied at the turn, but Wilson won four of the first five holes on the back nine – including three with birdies – to turn the tide in his favor. Playing the last six holes in 3 over, Hanson was sent packing.

HOGAN: Hunter Mahan (6) d. Matt Kuchar (4), 6 and 5 – Mahan was the beneficiary of a very off day for Matt Kuchar. Mahan won six holes on the day, but only needed birdie on one of them to do it. Kuchar was off from tee to green and failed to win a hole despite making birdie on three of four par-5s.

Watch live coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on Golf Channel, Sunday 8AM-1PM ET. NBC coverage can be seen live Sunday, 2-6PM ET.