GOLF WGC-ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP:TIGER WOODS overcame a front-nine wobble to win his opening match at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in his much-anticipated comeback from an eight-month injury lay-off.
Woods, up against Australian Brendan Jones at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, was playing for the first time since last June when he won the US Open before needing reconstructive knee surgery.
Galleries had followed Woods and caddie Steve Williams from the practice range to the chipping green and on to the putting green, Woods staring straight ahead with purpose throughout.
Not once did he acknowledge the roars of appreciation or turn to look at his adoring supporters. Only when his name was announced by the starter did he offer a response, and that was an obligatory touch to the peak of his cap. The world number one had started in determined fashion, winning the opening hole with a birdie. He was quickly two up after Jones conceded the second but both players bogeyed the third and fifth and Woods bogeyed the par-four seventh as well.
He was quickly back in control though, going two up with a birdie at the eighth and forging further ahead when Jones overshot the green at the par-three 12th.
Woods then eagled the par-five 13th to put him within sight of victory and eventually closed out a 3 and 2 win on the 16th.
“I felt good and got some good shots early which helped,” he said. “I feel like we haven’t been gone,” he said when asked what it felt like to be back.
Meanwhile Phil Mickelson conjured a last-gasp win in yesterday’s opening round. Left-hander Mickelson squandered a four-up advantage after 13 holes before scraping past Argentina’s Angel Cabrera with a birdie on the 19th green at Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. Cabrera had wrested back the initiative with three consecutive birdies from the 15th to level the match but Mickelson sealed victory after hitting his approach to six feet at the first extra hole.
“I played against a very tough competitor in Angel,” said world number three Mickelson.
“On the back nine he sure hit a lot of good golf shots and won four holes in a row. I was fortunate to win in sudden death, but I’ll gladly take it.”
Promising American Anthony Kim drew first blood in the opening round with a 7 and 5 crushing of Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang. He birdied the par-five second and, after making his only bogey at the third, tightened his grip with error-free golf at Dove Mountain.
“It went pretty solidly,” said Kim after ending the match with consecutive birdies. “I haven’t been playing my best the last couple months and I feel I’ve been struggling with my swing.”
“But I found it overseas, even though the scores didn’t show it,” he added, referring to tournaments he played recently in Malaysia and Australia.
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas completed another lop-sided win by thrashing Australian Rod Pampling 7 and6 before Britain’s Lee Westwood beat Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng 2 and 1 with a flawless five-birdie display.
Britain’s Oliver Wilson celebrated his first appearance in the Championship with an upset 3 and 1 victory over South Korea’s KJ Choi. World number 45 Wilson bogeyed the par-four first to trail by one but birdied the next two holes to take control and never relinquished his grip.
American Zach Johnson won a high-quality contest with Ireland’s Graeme McDowell 3 and 1 and Japan’s Shingo Katayama came from two down after 11 holes to beat South African Trevor Immelman 3 and 2.
Sweden’s Peter Hanson beat compatriot Robert Karlsson while Justin Rose lost to Ryder Cup rival Boo Weekley on the 18th.
Henrik Stenson's miserable day concluded with a defeat at the 21st hole to Davis Love III. Stenson had earlier revealed to Golfweekmagazine that he had been an investor with the Stanford Financial Group, whose owner Allen Stanford and two executives are now under investigation in the US for fraud.
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