They're Casual About La Costa Water

By Thomas Bonk

Feb. 27, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

CARLSBAD —

Someone might be pretty tired Sunday night ... rich, but tired. After heavy overnight rains washed out Thursday’s second round of the $7-million Accenture Match Play Championship, it meant that the eventual champion of this thing is going to have to play 36 holes every day the rest of the way.

The second and third rounds will be doubled up and played today to get the tournament back on schedule for Saturday, when the fourth round and the semifinal matches are played, followed by a 36-hole final Sunday.

That’s a lot of golf, but a $1.2-million winner’s check is also a lot of money.

David Toms said he’s not concerned about a potential 36-hole grind.

“I think if you were to make it that far, you don’t really think about it,” he said. “It’s such a reward to keep winning and move on. I’m looking forward to playing that many holes, just because it means I move on.”

Toms plays Shaun Micheel in the second round, and the winner will play Padraig Harrington or Bob Estes.

Tiger Woods, the top-seeded player, takes on what could be a difficult assignment in 24-year-old South African Trevor Immelman, who in some ways mirrors Woods. Immelman works with Claude Harmon, who is the son of Butch Harmon, Woods’ former coach. Immelman is a former world-class junior amateur like Woods and they both have Nike as a prime sponsor.

Immelman said he’s not fixated on playing Woods.

“I’m relaxed,” he said. “I’ve watched Tiger Woods’ golf swing probably a million times, whether it be on TV or on video or on computer. It’s great for me to be able to be there right in the front row and watch it. It doesn’t affect me, it doesn’t bother me, I’m not in awe of it.

“I can appreciate all the work that he’s put in and what he’s achieved, but I’m definitely not one of those guys who is just going to go to watch. That doesn’t get into my head at all.”

The Woods-Immelman winner will play Thomas Bjorn or Fredrik Jacobson in the afternoon round.

Thursday’s round was officially canceled before noon after 1 3/4 inches of rain had soaked the area and runoff from the nearby hills pooled onto the La Costa course to make it unplayable. A lake had formed across the 16th, 18th, first and ninth fairways, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as the watery condition of the 14th fairway.

“There’s a river floating down there,” said Mike Shea, the PGA Tour’s senior director of rules.

Toms said he showed up at the golf course at 7:30 a.m.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so I came out and just watched the water rise just like all the other players,” he said.

“It’s pretty comical to look out across the golf course and see what it looks like now.”

By midafternoon, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but the course still looked like a reservoir. Workers with buckets were bailing water out of the bunkers.

Toms said the collision of rain and the match play tournament was just a matter of bad timing. Suggestions that the event be moved to another site in the future because of rain should not be taken seriously, he said.

“There are a lot of places we deal with the weather,” he said. “We deal with it at Augusta every year. I’ve spent many hours sitting around the locker room at the Masters, and nobody thinks they’ll move the Masters.”

The Second Round

Today’s second-round matches for the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, originally scheduled for Thursday. The third round also will be played today:

FIRST TEE

* 7 a.m. -- David Toms vs. Shaun Micheel

* 7:09 a.m. -- John Huston vs. Peter Lonard

* 7:18 a.m. -- Kenny Perry vs. Steve Flesch

* 7:27 a.m. -- Phil Mickelson vs. Ben Curtis

* 7:36 a.m. -- Tiger Woods vs. Trevor Immelman

* 7:45 a.m. -- Mike Weir vs. Stephen Leaney

* 7:54 a.m. -- Vijay Singh vs. Jerry Kelly

* 8:03 a.m. -- Davis Love III vs. Fred Couples

10TH TEE

* 7 a.m. -- Padraig Harrington vs. Bob Estes

* 7:09 a.m. -- Duffy Waldorf vs. Ian Poulter