Singh leads the way
2005-02-25 08:53
Carlsbad - Nine of the top 10 seeds reached the second round of the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship on Thursday as the delayed first round produced a rash of minor upsets but few major surprises.
The lower-ranked player won 12 of the 32 matches played in sloppy conditions at rain-soaked La Costa, where play began 24 hours behind schedule.
Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen - the top four seeds overall who are all seeded first in their brackets - were among those to advance, but fifth seed Mike Weir lost 1-up to US veteran Kirk Triplett.
Singh, Woods and Mickelson found their way into the second round fairly smoothly, but fourth-ranked Goosen had to battle to subdue persistent Australian Stephen Leaney 1-up.
Woods never trailed in his match against 48-year-old Nick Price of Zimabwe, who bogeyed the first hole and never really recovered.
The two-time defending champion won 4 and 3.
"Nick gave me the first hole and I was able to stick it out," Woods said.
Singh was similarly untroubled against Japan's Shingo Katayama, also winning 4 and 3.
"I managed my game really well today and I'm just glad the first round is through," Singh said. "I feel good about my game and if I make some putts tomorrow, I don't think I'll have a problem."
Mickelson also never trailed in a 3 and 1 win over the short-hitting Loren Roberts.
"Loren came on strong at the end, and I was fortunate to birdie 17 and win," an unduly modest Mickelson said.
"I drove it great, missed only one fairway, and coming into the greens from the fairway gave me a chance to be aggressive and make birdies, and I ended up making six of them, which was the difference.
"It's a relief to get by any match. I have been knocked out in the first match before and it's just not any fun to be watching the whole thing on TV."
Close matches were the exception rather than the rule, with two needing extra holes and 14 others decided at the 18th. Among the narrow winners was 48th seed John Daly, who edged Justin Leonard 1 up.
"Today was a very tough match, but I hung in there and Justin missed a few putts for me," Daly said.
A more emphatic winner was sixth seed Sergio Garcia of Spain, who scored a 4 and 2 victory over Germany's Alex Cejka.
"I started very well," Garcia said. "At the end I let down a little bit and tried to give Alex a bit of life, but fortunately I finished good on 16. My short game is starting to come around nicely. I've become a much better player in the past year or so. I'm a lot more consistent than I used to be."
Conditions were marginal at best after torrential rain over the past week. Tournament officials turned the par-four ninth into a par-three, laying out a strip of carpet to the temporary tee in the middle of the fairway.
- AFP