Casey was no match for Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the defending champion, who overcame an early deficit to charge to an impressive five and four victory.

And Rose was no match for South African Trevor Immelman, who caught fire with eight birdies to post a victory by an identical margin.

Swede Henrik Stenson lived to fight another day, pulling off an astonishing one-up victory over Nick O'Hern with a magnificent par at the 18th hole.

Stenson had to take a penalty after driving into a cactus plant, but he hit his third shot from a dusty lie to two feet for the tap-in par, and claimed victory when O'Hern missed a four-footer.

Meanwhile, Immelman arrived at the course without much confidence, but his warm-up proved very fruitful and he was far too good for Rose.

"Yesterday I played awful and just managed to hang in there," Immelman said. "I stumbled on something on the range and had the guts to go with it."

Casey and Ogilvy are good friends, members of the same club in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they live.

They have dined together nearly every night this week, but the friendship was put aside once they arrived at the first tee.

Casey drew first blood by winning the second hole with a 15-foot birdie, but US Open champion Ogilvy bounced back to take the next four holes.

Ogilvy was three-up at the turn, and he promptly birdied the next three holes, although Casey also birdied the 10th and 11th holes, before losing the 12th.

It was just a matter of time before the final was delivered, and the knockout punch came at the 14th, where Ogilvy's par was good enough.

Casey made no excuses for his performance, saying: "I didn't play very good golf, simple as that.

"I didn't play the golf I wanted to and gave him way too many holes."

Victory earned Ogilvy a semi-final match against American Chad Campbell, a one-up winner over Canadian Stephen Ames.

Meanwhile, Rose - who beat Phil Mickelson and Charles Howell in his previous two matches - acknowledged he was outgunned in his match with Immelman.

"Trevor played very, very well," he said.

"Sometimes you just run into a guy who is hot, and that is match play. I missed short putts on [holes] five, six and seven, and that gave Trevor a little lead.

"I made some good putts around the turn, but every time I made a good putt, Trevor would birdie the next hole and I could never quite get back into the game."