For the second day running, Colin Montgomerie pushed himself to the forefront of Nick Faldo’s mind (or so he would like to think) with a fine victory over Charles Howell III in the second round of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship here.

His victory came on a day when only two of the seven-strong British and Irish contingent left in the tournament advanced to the next round — Paul Casey, who beat Bradley Dredge, of Wales, was the other one — and Montgomerie mischievously pointed out that he had been trying to impress Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, who was commentating for television at the time.

Montgomerie, who has found a rich vein of form (he beat Jim Furyk, the world No 7, the previous day), defeated Howell by one hole but had to dig deep to secure his victory at the Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain, near Tucson. Two up after seven holes, he found himself one down by the time he was walking off the 13th — Howell having rolled in four birdie putts in succession from the 10th — and had lost some momentum.

But in a form of the game in which he revels, the Scot drew level after hitting a wonderful six-iron to within three feet for a certain birdie at the 14th and landed a knockout blow when he rolled in a 26-foot putt at the next with Howell, just five feet away from the hole in two, probably expecting to take the lead once more.

When Howell’s effort hit the hole and “lipped” out, however, the force was with Montgomerie, who held on for a victory that took him through to a third-round match with Stewart Cink, who defeated a lacklustre Padraig Harrington by two holes.

So, did Montgomerie have his Ryder Cup hat on down the stretch? “Yeah, I said that to The Golf Channel because I knew that Nick Faldo was in the booth,” he said. “When Charles birdied the 11th to go all square, my caddie said: ‘Right, Mr Montgomerie, it’s Ryder Cup mode.’ And I was four under from then on in.” It was a splendid effort.

Casey had played brilliantly to dispatch Robert Karlsson in the first round — shooting a 63 to his opponent’s 65, but not sealing victory until the last hole — but there were no such pyrotechnics against Dredge.

The Englishman had nine birdies in the first round, but just two yesterday. He was one down after four holes and did not take the lead until the 13th. One up with two to play, he wrapped up victory when Dredge, who was wayward with his driver, bogeyed the 17th.

“It was a scrappy game, but sometimes that’s the way it goes,” Casey said. “I’m going to have to play better golf than that in the next round.” Today he plays K. J. Choi, who defeated Ian Poulter at the 19th hole, the Englishman having fought back from three down at the turn.

There was disappointment, too, for Luke Donald and Lee Westwood. Donald was beaten 2 and 1 by Ángel Cabrera, the US Open champion from Argentina, while Westwood went down by the same score to Justin Leonard.

Sergio García, another of the European Ryder Cup players on show, committed the cardinal sin in matchplay golf of revealing how vulnerable he feels on the greens. The Spaniard carried two putters in his bag for the first two rounds — a short one and a belly putter — and used them both, for all the good it did him.

Two up after ten holes against the tobacco-chewing Boo Weekley, García’s game went from good to ordinary in the space of seven holes. With three bogeys in four holes from the 11th, he lost his lead and was beaten 3 and 1.

Tiger Woods got by Arron Oberholser 3 and 2, but Phil Mickelson was the day’s biggest casualty, beaten 2 and 1 by Stuart Appleby, of Australia.

Henrik Stenson, the defending champion, was taken to the 25th hole by Trevor Immelman before securing victory with a birdie from two feet.

Results

United States unless stated

Second round

B Weekley bt S García (Sp) 3 and 1
A Baddeley (Aus) wo D Toms
W Austin bt A Scott (Aus) at 19th
C Montgomerie (GB) bt C Howell III 1 hole
S Cink bt P Harrington (Ire) 2 holes
P Casey (GB) bt B Dredge (GB) 2 and 1
R Pampling (Aus) bt N O’Hern (Aus) 5 and 4
J Byrd bt A Romero (Arg) 6 and 4
K J Choi (S Kor) bt I Poulter (GB) at 19th
V Singh (Fiji) bt N Fasth (Swe) 1 hole
T Woods bt A Oberholser 3 and 2
S Stricker bt H Mahan at 20th
Á Cabrera (Arg) bt L Donald (GB) 2 and 1
S Appleby (Aus) bt P Mickelson 2 and 1
J Leonard bt L Westwood (GB) 2 and 1
H Stenson (Swe) bt T Immelman (SA) at 25th

Third-round draw

Woods v Baddeley; Casey v Choi; Bird v Stenson; Austin v Weekley; Appleby v Leonard; Pampling v Singh; Stricker v Cabrera; Montgomerie v Cink