Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh win World Match Play thrillers, advance to 36-hole grind

Chris Baldwin,
Senior Writer

MARANA, Ariz. - There are two worlds at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship. The world in which everything Tiger Woods and his opponent does is magnified - a world where Tiger's 20-hole win over Aaron Baddeley gets branded an instant classic.

And then there's the world in which Vijay Singh wins a 25-hole miracle marathon as darkness descends on the Gallery Golf Club and nobody notices.

Both Woods and Singh - along with the other six golfers in today's quarterfinals (K.J. Choi, Henrik Stenson, Justin Leonard, Woody Austin, Angel Cabrera and Stewart Cink) - know that the real work begins now, though.

Woods lost control of a third-round match he felt he had a grip on most of the day, watched Baddeley putt to eliminate him on both 18 and the first extra hole, and still won thanks to a better approach-shot on sudden-death hole No. 2. Singh came back from two down with two holes left against Rob Pampling to force extras and then finally won it on his second time playing No. 7 just as the match was about to be suspended.

The reward?

The chance to play 36 holes today and another 36 tomorrow for a trophy fought over by one of the best non-major fields you see all season (64 of the top 65 ranked players in the world). The winners in this morning's quarterfinals turn around and play the semifinals in the afternoon. The two finalists then play another 36 Sunday.

"It went on too long," Singh said of his 25-holer, the second longest non-championship match in the World Match Play's 10-year history. "The thing just went on forever. I'll come out fighting tomorrow, though."

Baddeley thought he could knock Woods out of the fight on the first extra hole Friday when he had a 11-footer to win it. And he wasn't the only one feeling that.

"The one on 18 was tough," Woods said of a similar Baddeley putt with much more difficult break that could have eliminated the world's No. 1 in regulation. "More than likely, he's going to miss that putt low. But the one on No. 1 ...

"I thought he was going to make it."

Even after he didn't, Baddeley swears he did everything he wanted to on that putt.

"The putt on one was weird because I hit it and it broke a little left and I read it to go straight," he said. "And I went back and hit it again and it went straight, so (there's) nothing you can do, really."

Whether this was "Twilight Zone" stuff or not, Woods wasted little time in seizing on his second chance the next hole. He hit his approach shot to 13 feet on No. 2 (about 10 feet closer than Baddeley) and there was never any doubt that his putt (a few feet longer than Baddeley's on the first extra hole) was perfectly on line once he hit it.

Tiger let out a little fist pump at the putt's drop, but nothing like the full-out celebration he and his caddie Steve Williams enjoyed after coming from three holes down with five left vs. J.B. Holmes in round one. Maybe, the world's No. 1 was saving energy for today.

Of course, Woods still did find the time to crack on a radio announcer moments after the match. The rather portly man with the mic told Woods that while Woods went and worked out, he'd probably get himself something to eat. Tiger shot back: "Obviously."

Hey, when you're still perfect for 2008 - while not feeling you played anywhere close to your best in two of the first three days of match play - the smiles come easier.

"I think it becomes even more of an advantage for Tiger once it gets to the last two days," No. 3 overall seed Steve Stricker said after getting routed by Cabrera 4-and-3. "Who's better at grinding it out? And 36 holes a day can be a real grind more mentally than physically."

Austin gets defending champ Stenson

Woody Austin thought his third-round match with fellow American maverick Boo Weekley would be anything but a grind. Austin talked of how many jokes he and Boo would share. Instead, the man dubbed Aquaman (and yes, yet more fans brought goggles and fins to The Gallery) monopolized the fun by going 3-up after just four holes and never looking back in a 3-and-2 win.

Weekley mostly did himself in by missing short putts.

"You feel bad," Austin said. "You want to win when you play good. You don't want to win when somebody plays bad, especially if it's a friend."

Austin doesn't figure to have any mixed feelings when he faces defending champ Stenson in this morning's quarterfinals. Stenson hasn't overpowered anyone, but he beat Jonathan Byrd who'd been the hottest player in the field 1-up to get halfway to a repeat.

Colin Montgomerie figures he didn't give himself half a chance in a 4-and-2 loss to Stewart Cink that puts a serious crimp in the Saucy Scot's chances of breaking the top 50 and making The Masters.

"Well it's simple, isn't it?" Montgomerie said. "Putting. I just putted ... I had chances on 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and missed them all ... I was unlucky. That's it."

With that, Montgomerie was gone.

Choi's still here, set to play Woods in the quarters this morning, still feeling he hasn't played that well all week either. Which didn't stop Choi from riding three birdies on the first three holes to a 2-up win over Paul Casey.

"K.J. drives it on a string most of the time," Woods said, knowing that The Gallery's huge fairways and little rough play into that. "...It's going to be a tough match."

It can't get much tougher than what he's already faced.

WGC World Match Play Championship

Third round results

Henrik Stenson def. Jonathan Byrd 1-up
Woody Austin def. Boo Weekley 3-and-2
Angel Cabrera def. Steve Stricker 4-and-3
Stewart Cink def. Colin Montgomerie 4-and-2
Tiger Woods def. Aaron Baddeley 20 holes
Justin Leonard def. Stuart Appleby 3-and-2
Vijay Singh def. Rob Pampling 25 holes

February 23, 2008