Woods' putter gets hot just in time

By Thomas Bonk

Feb. 21, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

MARANA, Ariz. -- He hit his first tee shot out of bounds, he gave away three holes with bogeys and he was three down with five holes to play, but Tiger Woods kept telling himself he had a chance.

And then he got the ball rolling.

There’s a lot of real estate out here in the foothills, and Woods covered much of it in a blistering closing stretch of clutch, long-distance putting that propelled him into the second round of the $8-million Accenture Match Play Championship.

Four of the eight highest-ranked players lost in the first round Wednesday, and Woods nearly joined them, but he managed to avoid being upset by 64th-ranked J.B. Holmes, scoring a 1-up victory at the Gallery at Dove Canyon.

Woods’ sense of timing was acute. He went from three down with five holes to play to a one-up lead going into the 18th.

“All of a sudden, putts started falling in from everywhere,” he said.

“Everything was kind of going my way at the end.”

That’s one way to put it. Here’s another: Woods embarked on a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle stretch, the numbers growing more impressive at each succeeding hole.

From 14 feet, the ball dropped in for a birdie at the 14th, from 17 feet at the 15th, from 22 feet at the 16th and then a 35-foot eagle putt at the 17th that put him ahead.

Holmes was left to shake his head in disbelief.

“I got three up with five to play, and I was like ‘Let’s not do anything stupid here, make him beat you if he’s going to do it,’ and he did,” he said. “What are you going to do?”

There were others who shared the feeling, among them fourth-ranked Ernie Els, who lost badly, 6 and 5, to Jonathan Byrd, his fourth consecutive first-round defeat in this event. Other first-round losers were sixth-ranked Jim Furyk, seventh-ranked Justin Rose and eighth-ranked Rory Sabbatini.

Coming off his victory at Riviera, Phil Mickelson birdied the 16th hole and got past Pat Perez, 1-up, withstanding Perez’s birdie putts of more than 40 feet at the 14th and 15th. Mickelson plays Stuart Appleby in today’s second round.

Third-ranked Steve Stricker went 20 holes to defeat Daniel Chopra.

Mickelson didn’t play a practice round, but he spent time on the range Tuesday with swing coach Butch Harmon. Mickelson said he’s not looking very far ahead.

“We can’t look past the next match,” he said.

For Woods, it’s Arron Oberholser, who defeated Mike Weir, 3 and 1.

Oberholser, who didn’t play at Pebble Beach because of bursitis in his right shoulder, said he’s looking forward to matching up with Woods, even as a huge underdog.

“For a guy like myself, the gap between me and him seems too big because he’s so much more experienced than I am in just about every facet of the game,” Oberholser said.

Woods knew he was fortunate to still be around. He made bogeys at the first, ninth and 13th holes and had problems keeping the ball on the fairway. After he knocked his drive out of bounds at the first, Woods rode a cart back to the tee. He stuck a tee in the ground, hit the ball without taking a warmup swing, then spit at the tee box as he left.

“I was obviously pretty hot at myself,” he said.

And he was just as hot in that four-hole stretch on the back, only in a positive way.

“The first nine holes, it was not pretty,” Woods said. “I was lucky to survive the match.”

The match ended with Woods chipping onto the green from 45 feet after his approach shot had spun back off and rolled down into a depression. Woods’ chip stopped a foot from the hole, where Holmes conceded the par putt.

Holmes needed to make an eight-footer for birdie to keep the match going but missed it.

Woods couldn’t remember coming back from a bigger match-play deficit as a pro. But as an 18-year-old in 1994 on his way to winning the first of three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles, Woods was 6-down at one point in the 36-hole final with Trip Kuehne. He was five down to Steve Scott in the 36-hole final in 1996, Woods’ last match before turning pro.

If Woods’ errant tee shot at the first was a signature moment, then so was Henrik Stenson’s tee shot at the 18th in his match with Robert Allenby.

Stenson, the defending champion, wound up making par on the hole and winning the match, 1-up, even though his drive went almost straight left past cactus onto a patch of dirt.

“A pull, heely, low, scabby, amateur shot,” Stenson said.

Woods knows the feeling, but even if his version of Stenson’s bad shot came on the first hole and not the last one, he knows the margin between staying and leaving was slim.

“Very, very fortunate to advance to the next round,” he said.

thomas.bonk@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Tiger’s charge

Tiger Woods was three down with five holes to play in the first round against J.B. Holmes. Here’s how he rallied:

14TH HOLE: Woods makes

15-foot birdie.

2 DOWN

15TH HOLE: Woods makes

18-foot birdie.

1 DOWN

16TH HOLE: Woods makes