Big 3 Cut Down to Size

What’s the worst fear of big-time, match-play golf?

It’s a star-power outage.

Usually, the best you can hope for is that the stars make it to the weekend, but Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Duval didn’t make it past Wednesday.

On opening day, the $5.5-million Accenture Match Play Championship lost its No. 1-ranked player and top attraction when Woods was upended by Peter O’Malley of Australia, 2 and 1. Then, a couple of minutes later, second-ranked Mickelson was also gone, escorted to the door by John Cook, who birdied three of his last five holes.

And soon after, third-ranked Duval lost to Kevin Sutherland in 20 holes. If you’re keeping score, that’s one, two, three and out. Thanks for coming and enjoy the rest of your week.

As far as carnage goes, there may have been worse days, only nobody could recall any. Still, things could be worse. In spite of what happened, at least nobody’s waking up this morning to the $1.98 Accenture Match Play Championship.

Meanwhile, there cannot be much joy at ABC, where expectations for the weekend TV ratings have officially been downgraded to cooking-show status.

It was left to Sergio Garcia to stick a plug in the thing, which the fourth-ranked player accomplished when he defeated Lee Janzen, 3 and 2, thus setting up an intriguing second-round match against another precocious 22-year-old, Charles Howell III.

Garcia had his own spin on what transpired Wednesday at La Costa. “It shows how good the field is,” he said. “If you don’t play well, you’re not going to win. I heard Tiger made only one birdie, and that’s not good enough. It shows that all the players are improving and are not afraid of anybody.”

Woods said afterward that La Costa’s soft, bumpy greens could stand a bit of improvement, but he also indicated he hadn’t played all that poorly even though he lost so soon. Said Woods: “It’s not the greatest of feelings.”

At least Woods stopped to offer a few comments, while Mickelson left the place so quickly, his visor nearly spun off his head. “I can’t explain it,” he said of his 3-and-2 loss to Cook.

Hey, some things are like that.

Colin Montgomerie probably felt the same way after Scott McCarron dropped a hole-in-one on him at No. 14. “Yes, well, that was unfortunate,” Montgomerie said.

Yes, truly. McCarron’s shot caromed off the back of a bunker at the 204-yard par-three and the ball rolled straight in the hole. Montgomerie also banked his ball off the bunker, but it stopped rolling about two feet from the hole. McCarron’s birdie three holes later ended it for Montgomerie.

Woods didn’t get his lone birdie until the 16th hole, when he was already three holes down. Woods shook his fist after getting a 25-foot putt to fall, but he was still reeling. Trailing by two holes at the 17th, Woods knocked his approach four feet above the hole while O’Malley was 25 feet away, on the left center of the green.

O’Malley hit his putt and while the ball moved slowly on its way to the hole, Woods started walking toward where he had marked his ball. He got there just as O’Malley’s ball fell into the hole with one last roll. All Woods could do was take off his cap and congratulate O’Malley.

O’Malley, the 64th and lowest-seeded player in the field, made a critical birdie with a 15-foot putt at the 15th.

“It probably wasn’t until I holed that putt that I thought I could win the match,” he said. “I had no pressure on me whatsoever because no one expected me to win.”

Meanwhile, everybody expects Woods to win. But it’s something he has yet to accomplish in 2002. He has played only four times and he tied for 10th at the Mercedes, tied for 12th at Pebble Beach, tied for fifth at Torrey Pines, then had his La Costa experience. Woods may adjust his schedule to play at Doral next week, but he hasn’t made up his mind. What he is certain about is that La Costa’s greens weren’t very good.

“I hit good putts,” he said. “Some of the putts I hit really well, they just didn’t break. A lot of the time, they were in the air bouncing. I got more mileage over the greens than I do when I travel all over the country.”

There were some routs recorded, but not many. Rocco Mediate defeated John Daly, 5 and 4, Brad Faxon dusted Kenny Perry, 7 and 6, and Steve Lowery sent home Scott Hoch, 5 and 4, the same score by which Paul McGinley defeated Joe Durant.

It also wasn’t a particularly good day for the last two defending champions, with Steve Stricker and Darren Clarke losing. Duval probably played well enough to win, shooting four under, but Sutherland birdied the 17th and 18th holes to tie the match, then won with a birdie on the 20th hole. In three appearances, Duval has lost in the semifinals, the second round and now the first round.

“This is probably worse,” he said. “It’s tough anytime you play good and you don’t win. I got beat. Kevin stepped up to the plate and hit the shots, so you have to give him credit.”

Jose Maria Olazabal, who defeated Justin Leonard, 1-up, meets Retief Goosen in the second round today. Besides Garcia-Howell, another interesting matchup is Ernie Els vs. Tom Lehman.

Woods is planning his next event, whatever that might be, remembering he had previously reached at least the quarterfinals in this tournament. Woods had an explanation for it.

“It can happen out there.”

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Three and Out

The top three seeded players lost in the first round of the Accenture World Match Play Championship:

No. 64 Peter O’Malley def.

No. 1 Tiger Woods 2 and 1

No. 63 John Cook def.

No. 2 Phil Mickelson 3 and 2

No. 62 Kevin Sutherland def.

No. 3 David Duval 20th hole

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Match Play Championship Results

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