Lefty KO'd in second round

By Thomas Bonk

Feb. 22, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

MARANA, Ariz. -- There is still plenty of sand, lots of cactus and no shortage of scrub brush here in the desert, but there isn’t any Phil Mickelson.

It was a short work week for Mickelson, who became the biggest casualty of the world’s biggest match play tournament and packed for the trip home Thursday after falling to Stuart Appleby, 2 and 1.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods played as if he intends to stick around awhile, smacking Arron Oberholser, 3 and 2.

Woods’ philosophy: “Match play is an animal that’s all about the moment . . . if you don’t play well, you’re going home.”

Mickelson hit the door early, even though he played well. Unfortunately for the left-hander, he was rolled under by Appleby, who had nine birdies in 17 holes in their second-round encounter at the $8-million Accenture Match Play Championship.

Appleby finished with a flourish, sliding in an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-five 17th to close out the second-ranked Mickelson at the Gallery at Dove Mountain.

He won the first two holes to get off quickly, but Mickelson had no defense for Appleby, who is ranked 31st.

“I wanted a chance on 18, but unfortunately I didn’t get it,” Mickelson said.

All in all, it was a day that showed how match play can drive you crazy. You can play great and lose (Mickelson was seven under) or you can play lousy and win (K. J. Choi had one birdie in his last 15 holes and still won). Then there’s Jonathan Byrd, the lowest ranked player still around at 62nd, playing only a total of 27 holes in two days.

It’s the challenge of match play, all right, sometimes daunting circumstances that aren’t easy to figure out. Take suitcases, for example.

“Do you unpack your suitcase or do you not?” Colin Montgomerie said.

Sixteen more players packed up Thursday, Mickelson among them, a group that also included fifth-ranked Adam Scott, 11th-ranked Padraig Harrington and 12th-ranked Sergio Garcia.

Third-ranked Steve Stricker, forced to play 20 holes for the second day in a row, sent a 50-foot putt scooting across the second green to defeat Hunter Mahan. Stricker, birdied the last three holes.

After needing all 18 holes to win his first-round match, defending champion Henrik Stenson went 25 holes before finally beating Trevor Immelman.

And in another one of the more entertaining matches, Boo Weekley sent Garcia home, 3 and 1, and plays Scott-beater Woody Austin next. Weekley was two down after 10 holes and then birdied four of the last eight while Garcia bogeyed three of the last eight.

The homespun Weekley said he’s fine with this playing golf stuff, but would just as soon be hunting, for obvious reasons, at least to him.

“I love the smell of that gunpowder burning,” he said. “You just shoot and hear the noise.”

That’s sort of what happens when Woods is playing. He shoots and you hear the noise.

Montgomerie, again in a giddy mood after defeating Charles Howell III, 1-up, leaned back in his chair when he was asked to assess Woods’ first-round match against J.B. Holmes. Three down with five holes to go -- did Montgomerie expect that to be enough for Woods to be sent home?

“No, no,” Montgomerie said. “Six down with five to play, possibly.”

Point well taken. So after starting slowly against Holmes, Woods threw a fastball at Oberholser and was 3-up after eight.

Woods won the first hole, even if he did knock his drive to the right once again. But Oberholser’s second shot found the desert and he took a drop and absorbed a penalty. Woods, on the green in two, had his eagle putt conceded.

The lead became 2-up at the par-five fifth, where Woods hit his third shot to within two feet, the ball rolling just past the hole, and Oberholser once again conceded the tap-in birdie. They both birdied the seventh, but Woods rolled in a six-foot putt to birdie the par-three eighth after Oberholser hit his tee shot over the green.

When Woods made a four-foot putt to birdie the 11th, his lead was 4-up, and his birdie count had reached six. Oberholser got a hole back when he won the 12th with a six-foot birdie putt.

Woods closed out the match at the 16th, removed his cap and shook Oberholser’s hand moments after sending a six-foot par putt into the hole.

Next up for Woods is 17th-ranked Aaron Baddeley, who advanced without hitting a shot when David Toms couldn’t play because of a back injury.

If having a day off really is an edge for Baddeley, Woods wouldn’t say so.

“You can always spin it any way you want,” he said. “Obviously, Badds will think that way, and me on the other side will think it’s probably better to play.”

Another spin on Woods-Baddeley may be the final round of last year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, where they began the final round paired in the last group. Baddeley, the third-round leader by two shots, made a triple bogey on the first hole and shot an 80. Woods finished with a 72 and tied for second behind Angel Cabrera.

And Thursday night, instead of packing his suitcase, Woods said he would get back to his room and rehearse his swing in front of the mirror.

“In this game,” he said, “feel and real are usually two different things.”

thomas.bonk@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Today’s pairings

Round 3 of Accenture Match Play Championship (seeding in parentheses):

JONES BRACKET

Tiger Woods (1) vs. Aaron Baddeley (17)

Paul Casey (25) vs. K.J. Choi (9)

HOGAN BRACKET

Jonathan Byrd (61) vs. Henrik Stenson (13)

Woody Austin (37) vs. Boo Weekley (44)