Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson notch wins at the WGC Match Play Championship thanks to strong putting

Chris Baldwin,
Contributor

MARANA, Ariz. - A bright, intense Arizona sun had burst out of the clouds that covered The Gallery Golf Club for most of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship's opening day, but many could still only see gloom.

"It doesn't look good, does it?" one of the official PGA Tour observers of Tiger Woods' first-round match with J.B. Holmes asked another official as Woods stepped onto the 15th tee, still two holes down.

"No, it doesn't. How's Phil doing?"

When told that Mickelson clung to a narrow 1-up lead over Pat Perez a few holes back, the official released another sad head shake.

For a long time during the first afternoon's going-ons at this cacti-friendly golf course in Tucson's shadow, it looked like there was a good chance the Match Play could lose the top two players in the world before everyone around here settled down to watch Shaq's Phoenix debut on TV. But looks can be deceiving.

Especially when you have Tiger going long-putt crazy and Mickelson shrugging off two Perez putt bombs like they were as meaningless as those old "fat" insults that sometimes get shouted Mickelson's way. With Woods coming back from three down with five holes to play to win 1-up and Mickelson never letting fellow Arizona Stater Perez take the lead, despite those back-to-back 40-foot birdie putts on 14 and 15 for another No. 1 seed 1-up victory, the World Match Play carried plenty of buzz on its first day.

More importantly, it also still carries plenty of big names into today's second round.

Forget any NCAA Tournament comparisons. By the sound of the galleries, almost everyone roots for the favorites in the Match Play, hoping for high-profile star-on-star showdowns later in the tournament rather than Cinderella tales in golf spikes.

A fair share of high seeds did get the Gulfstream boot on day one - including No. 4 overall seed Ernie Els, No. 6 Jim Furyk, No. 7 Justin Rose, No. 8 Rory Sabbatini, No. 15 Geoff Ogilvy and No. 16 Zach Johnson. But there's still star power galore with Woods, Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Adam Scott, K.J. Choi, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, defending champ Henrik Stenson, Angel Cabrera, Woody Austin and Boo Weekley among those in today's round of 32.

Proudly gray-haired Colin Montgomerie is also still rolling in long putts - including a 52-footer in his 3-and-2 win over Furyk - in his continuing Masters-entrance quest. Montgomerie needs to move up 12 spots in the world rankings into the Top 50 in only four weeks to play Augusta this year.

At least, there's no doubt the Saucy Scot is feeling it.

Montgomerie actually hit Furyk with some pretty serious trash talk (by golf's tame standards) on the eve of their match, telling reporters he was sure Furyk didn't want to face him in the first round. Then he went about sending Furyk on one of those SUV courtesy rides up the cart path after 16 that course officials set up for players whose matches end before 18.

"There's no option for me," Montgomerie said. "I need to keep winning."

Sergio Garcia goes two-putter man, Mickelson shrugs off no practice

Sergio Garcia went with the unusual option of having two different putters among his 14 clubs and it paid off in a methodical 3-and-2 win over John Senden. Garcia went with a short putter most of the round, but switched late to his belly putter to regain some comfort factor on the Gallery's huge greens.

"(The regular short putter) felt really good on the putting green," Garcia said. "But it's different when you're out there in the heat of the battle and the pressure's on. So I just wanted to take it out as a safety net."

Mickelson didn't have much of any kind of net against Perez. The only player in the field who didn't play a single practice round at The Gallery, Mickelson admitted he was still feeling his way around the course. That didn't stop him from draining a long birdie putt on 16 to go 1-up for good after Perez's putt bombs tied it.

"It felt good to respond," Mickelson said.

People are already starting to broach the subject of Mickelson facing Woods in a 1-on-1 duel even though it couldn't happen until Sunday's finale and they both need four more wins to get there.

For now, Mickelson gets Stuart Appleby today, while Tiger faces Arron Oberholser.

Woods claimed he didn't even know Oberholser was next. "The way I was playing most of the day, I should be headed home," Woods said.

World Match Play second-round thrillers

If you're looking for second-round matches to keep you fixated, you may want to glance away from Woods and Mickelson, though. How about Adam Scott vs. Woody Austin and Garica vs. Boo Weekley bringing back President's Cup visions and grudges. Or what about K.J. Choi vs. Ian Poulter, the man who infamously declared he was the second best golfer on the planet behind Tiger, placing himself ahead of guys like - well, Choi, who are higher in the world rankings.

"You can never really fancy your chances in this format," Lee Westwood said after knocking out Brent Snedeker 3-and-2. "I was just saying to somebody else, this is the kind of week where you kind of unpack, but you don't move stuff too far from your suitcase."

WGC World Match Play Championship

First round results
Sergio Garica def. Jon Senden 3-and-2
Boo Weekley def. Martin Kaymer 2-and-1
Padraig Harrington def. Jerry Kelly 4-and-3
Stewart Cink def. Miguel Jimenez 4-and-3
K.J. Choi def. Camillo Villegas 3-and-2
Ian Poulter def. Soren Hansen 2-and-1
Vijay Singh def. Peter Hanson 19 holes
Niclas Fasth def. Richard Green 6-and-5
Adam Scott def. Brendan Jones 2-and-1
Woody Austin def. Toru Taniguchi 6-and-5
Colin Montgomerie def. Jim Furyk 3-and-2
Charles Howell III def. Stephen Ames 19 holes
Bradley Dredge def. Rory Sabbatini 4-and-3
Paul Casey def. Robert Karlsson 2-and-1
Rod Pampling def. Justin Rose 2-and-1
Nick O'Hern def. Scott Verplank 3-and-2
Henrik Stenson def. Robert Allenby 1-up
Trevor Immelman def. Shingo Katayama 1-up
Angel Cabrera def. Anders Hansen 3-and-2
Luke Donald def. Nick Dougherty 2-and-1
David Toms def. Zach Johnson 2-and-1
Aaron Bradley def. Mark Calcavecchia 4-and-2
Justin Leonard def. Geoff Ogilvy 2-and-1
Lee Westwood def. Brandt Snedeker 3-and-2
Jonathon Byrd def. Ernie Els 6-and-5
Andres Romero def. Retief Goosen 2-and-1
Steve Stricker def. Daniel Chopra 20 holes
Hunter Mahan def. Richard Sterne 4-and-3
Tiger Woods def. J.B. Holmes 1-up
Arron Oberholser def. Mike Weir 3-and-1
Phil Mickelson def. Pat Perez 1-up
Stuart Appleby def. Tim Clark 3-and-2

February 21, 2008

Chris Baldwin keeps one eye on the PGA Tour and another watching golf vacation hotspots and letting travelers in on the best place to vacation.