TIGER WOODS was the only member of the world's top 10 still in the hunt after another day of shocks at the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay Championship at La Costa near San Diego.

Woods himself breathed a massive sigh of relief after coming through on the final green against former United States PGA champion Bob Tway.

But out went second seed David Duval, eighth seed Vijay Singh, number nine Nick Price and number 10 Justin Leonard to join Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Davis Love and Mark O'Meara on the sidelines.

Greg Norman was another casualty, going down at the third extra hole to Westwood's conqueror Eduardo Romero - after leading by three holes with only four to play.

Norman missed a six-foot putt for victory on the 17th and then Romero fired in a glorious seven iron - "the best shot of my life" - to 18 inches on the last to send the match into sudden death. It looked like it would end on the par five 20th when Norman drove out of bounds but Romero took three from the edge of the green to let the Australian off the hook.

It was only a temporary reprieve for the Shark, however, and matters ended on the next hole when the Argentinian sank an 18-foot birdie putt at the par three.

Duval, seeking his third tournament victory of the season, lost to fellow American Bill Glasson two and one, while Singh came up against a red-hot Bernhard Langer and went down by the same margin.

Leonard was beaten by Shigeki Maruyama, the Japanese player who won a maximum five points in the President's Cup victory over the United States last December, and Price lost to Jeff Maggert.

Patrik Sjoland staged a comeback almost as good as Romero's to defeat Paraguay's Carlos Franco on the last.

The Swede was three down after 11 holes but won the 12th and 15th, squared with a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th and on the last followed Romero's example by hitting his second shot to a foot.

"I knew it would take my best golf ever in the last seven holes and I managed it," said a delighted Sjoland, who next meets American John Huston for a place in the quarter-finals of an event offering a first prize of £625,000.

Woods looked like having to go to extra holes when he duffed a chip from beside a bunker at the 18th. But Tway was in sand himself and after coming out to seven feet missed a putt that inches from the cup looked certain to drop.

"Maybe I'm a little surprised that nine of the top 10 are out already, but the field is so deep and people have failed to realise that," said Woods, whose next opponent is Stewart Cink.

"All these guys are capable of making a lot of birdies. I am a little spent mentally after that but I'm in the best physical shape of my life."

Langer was out in 31 and six under par when he finished off Singh, the reigning US PGA champion. "I would not mind having more of those days," said the 41-year-old German, who faces Jeff Maggert for a place in the last eight.

Thomas Bjorn failed to make it through, losing two and one to Andrew Magee, but Jose Maria Olazabal was saw off the challenge of Michael Bradley, the American who eliminated Masters and Open champion O'Meara in the first round.

It was a tight match most of the way but Olazabal won the 15th and 16th to take a two hole lead and closed the match out when he chipped dead at the 17th for par.

Loren Roberts beat Paul Azinger - with a little help from his wife Kimberly. One up with four to play, Roberts hit a wild drive down the 15th but it hit his wife on the leg and rebounded onto the fairway. He halved the hole, won the next and closed Azinger out two and one.

The other third-round matches see Fred Couples against Steve Pate, Romero against Phil Mickelson, Glasson against Magee and Roberts against Maruyama.