Séamus Power holed a clutch birdie putt at the 18th on day two of the 2023 WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play to secure a one-hole victory over Adam Hadwin which saw him avoid elimination.
Irishman Power produced late fireworks on Thursday, winning two of the last three holes to turn a one-hole deficit into a narrow victory.
The closely-fought contest was tied heading down the last, with both players knowing half a point would not be enough to keep their tournament hopes alive after Sam Burns secured his second win of the week, beating Adam Scott by one hole in Pool 13's other match.
Power sent a wonderful approach to around four feet at the 18th and, after Hadwin had been unable to hole his birdie try, made no mistake with the putt to clinch his first point of the week, having lost to Scott on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old was pleased with the way the encounter finished and is looking forward to facing Burns in a must-win match on Friday.
He said: "Obviously I needed that one to stay in it.
"Sam won right there in front of us so I knew I had to win that hole, so it was nice to sneak it in.
"A lot of work to do tomorrow. Obviously Sam is a great player, so looking forward to the challenge."
Power is not concerned by the prospect of wind on day three, adding: "The wind is not going to bother me too much.
"We grew up playing a lot of it, but yeah, I saw there was some in the forecast tomorrow.
"It's the type of course where you can get away with a couple of loose ones here and there, so I think it'll be a challenge, but I think it'll still be fun and very birdieable in spots."
W clinched at the last @Power4Seamus 👏
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 23, 2023
1UP vs Hadwin. #DellMatchPlay pic.twitter.com/vyc3lpWQiR
Scott and Burns were tied with one hole to play but an errant tee-shot from the Australian enabled his opponent to win the last with a par to finish 1UP.
Victor Perez pulled off one of the shots of the day as he holed out for an eagle in his match against Jason Day but he was beaten 2&1 to see his chances ended.
Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa and Adam Svensson had to settle for half a point each in the other Pool 9 match.
Viktor Hovland lost for the second day in a row as Si Woo Kim beat the Norwegian 4&3 in Pool 8, while Matt Kuchar and Chris Kirk's match was tied.
In Pool 5, 2019 champion Kevin Kisner lost 3&2 to Max Homa to end his hopes of making it out of the group, while Justin Suh beat Hideki Matsuyama 3&1.
