Match Play Golf Championship : Watson Advances, but Other Favorites Fall at Tucson

Defending champion Tom Watson survived two matches and the upset syndrome that continued to sweep some of golf’s prominent figures from the $750,000 Seiko Tucson Match Play championship Friday.

“Three down and three to go,” Watson said after he’d scored a 4-and-2 victory over Mike Reid in the morning round and edged Wayne Levi, 1 up, in the afternoon.

But while Watson reached the quarterfinals in his attempt to end a season-long slump, a remarkable series of upsets also continued to send some of the game’s familiar names to the sidelines.

The prominent victims included Tom Kite, Andy North, Larry Nelson and Calvin Peete, winner of two titles and leader in the Player of the Year standings most of this season.

Peete, 2 up with three holes to go, was tied by Phil Blackmar on the 18th hole of second-round play. Peete and Blackmar both birdied the first extra hole. On the next one, Peete hit his second shot into the water and conceded the match.

That action clinched PGA Player of the Year honors for Lanny Wadkins, despite his upset loss in the first round Thursday. Peete was the only man with a mathematical chance of overtaking Wadkins in this, the last official event on the 10-month tour schedule, and Peete had to win this tournament to do it.

North was eliminated by Ron Streck, and Nelson lost to Clarence Rose, each by 3-and-2 margins, in second-round action.

Kite was 1 up with one hole to play against Danny Edwards in the third round. But Kite chopped up the 18th, going from bunker to bunker and taking a double-bogey that kept Edwards alive. Edwards, a winner last week at Pensacola, FLa., won the match with a 25-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole.

In other third-round play under a bright, hot afternoon sun, Mac O’Grady beat Larry Rinker, 3 and 2; Jim Thorpe beat Jodie Mudd, 2 and 1; Bob Tway beat Streck, 3 and 2; Mark Wiebe beat Dan Forsman, 1 up; Blackmar beat Peter Jacobsen, 2 and 1, and Jack Renner beat Clarence Rose, 2 and 1.

That set up these quarterfinal matches for today: Watson vs. O’Grady, Thorpe vs. Wiebe, Tway vs. Edwards and Blackmar vs. Renner.

Semifinal and final matches for both the regular tour and the $300,000 Seniors Tour will be held Sunday.

In the senior competition, defending champion Gene Littler and Australian Peter Thomson continued to lead the advance. Littler defeated Ken Still, 3 and 2; Thomson, winner of nine titles this year, eliminated Ben Smith, 4 and 2.

The other senior winners were Jim Ferree, 4 and 3 over Orville Moody; Doug Ford, 3 and 2 over Canadian Al Balding; Dan Sikes, 1 up over Bill Johnston; South African Harold Henning, 7 and 6 over Art Silverstrone; Lee Elder, 5 and 3 over Bob Goalby, and Gay Brewer, 1 up on the 19th over Charles Sifford.

The quarterfinal senior pairings for today: Littler vs. Ferree, Ford vs. Sikes, Thomson vs. Henning and Elder vs. Brewer.