Tiger Woods went from a breeze to a wheeze in the Match Play Championship, not taking the lead until the 10th hole and having to make a 7-foot birdie on the 18th to get past Robert Allenby on Thursday.
"I'm advancing," Woods said. "That's a good thing."
Ultimately, that's all that mattered in a second round filled with dramatic shots, stirring comebacks and some familiar faces who are pressing on toward the US$1.3 million prize that awaits the winner.
PHOTO: AFP
Vijay Singh overcame a slow start to beat Miguel Angel Jimenez, and while it's hard to call that a surprise because Singh is the No. 2 seed, it was the first time in seven tries the Fijian advanced to the third round. Third-seeded Retief Goosen also won, but not before Ben Crane made a hole-in-one on the 16th hole to make him sweat.
Phil Mickelson missed several 5-foot putts, but he holed a 25-foot eagle putt on the 11th that sent him on his way to a victory over John Daly, a match that might have carried more buzz had it not been played in the morning.
The best rally came from Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who birdied the last three holes to send his match into overtime, then beat Argentina's Angel Cabrera with a par on the first extra hole.
After two days of wild swings in emotion and momentum, only 16 players remained. And while anything goes in match play, this tournament was shaping up to be a dandy. Six of the top eight seeds are still around, the highest number since the Accenture Match Play Championship began in 1999.
Woods had to labor to join them.
He opened with six straight birdies and smoked Stephen Ames of Canada in the first round, a victory so resounding that the match lasted the minimum 10 holes. Against Allenby, it took him that long simply to get his first lead.
It was a struggle to the end.
Allenby, who developed cramps in his right calf over the final three holes, pulled even with a birdie on the par-3 16th. After both players missed birdie putts by inches on the 17th, it came down to a fairway metal from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 closing hole.
Woods went first, hitting 3-wood into the left bunker. Allenby came out of his 3-wood, and sent it sailing to the right, beyond the bunker into grass that had been trampled by the gallery. It was a bad place to miss, because the pin was cut to the right side.
His wedge bounced off the hard ground and sailed 40 feet beyond the pin. Woods blasted out to 7 feet, and after Allenby missed, he rolled the birdie putt into the center of the cup.
It was rare for Woods to play all 18 holes. Of his 23 victories in match play at La Costa Resort, this was only the sixth time he was extended to the last hole.
Woods next plays fellow American Chad Campbell, who won the 18th hole with an 8-foot birdie to beat big-hitting Henrik Stenson of Sweden. It was a championship debut for Stenson, who surely left with a sour taste having played two rounds without making a single bogey.
Defending champion David Toms made it to the third round for the fifth consecutive year with three straight birdies on the back nine to surge past Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, 2 and 1. He will play US Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, who holed out from the sixth fairway for eagle on his way to a 1-up victory over Adam Scott of Australia.
Backed by several other news organizations, AP made progress on Thursday in talks with the US LPGA about new restrictions on press credentials, but was unable to resolve the dispute in time to cover the start of the Fields Open tournament in Hawaii.
Without an agreement, the AP did not have a reporter or photographer on the course when play began in Kapolei, Hawaii. The news agency planned to send out a list of scores at the end of the round.
The AP said the proposed rules would limit its use of stories and photos after a tournament ended and give the US LPGA broad rights to use the material for its own purposes at no charge.
The presidents of the AP Managing Editors, AP Sports Editors and AP Photo Managers associations -- representing the 1,800 newspapers who are members of the AP in the US and the Canadian Press in Canada -- sent a letter to the US LPGA in support of the AP's decision.
The National Press Photographers Association also voiced support.
"We've had some good discussion with LPGA," AP assistant general counsel Dave Tomlin said on Thursday. "As a result of those discussions, it looks to us now that their intention was to provide appropriate access and full editorial use by the AP of information and photos obtained at their events.
"We're optimistic that further discussions will reflect and address the goals and concerns of both AP and the LPGA," Tomlin said. "We appreciate LPGA's willingness to work constructively with us on this, and we expect to be back covering LPGA events soon."
Tomlin has said that the AP had no objections to limits on commercial use of its coverage, which all leagues forbid, but would not consent to editorial limits.
In a statement on Thursday, the US LPGA said it "intends for its credentials to provide media companies with the same rights to use news and information obtained at LPGA events that are available from other mainstream sports leagues and governing bodies, such as the NBA, PGA Tour, and Major League Baseball."
On Wednesday, AP reporter Jaymes Song was not allowed on the course during a practice round or in the media room to cover Michelle Wie's news conference after refusing to sign the new credential form. Freelance photographer Ronen Zilberman, on assignment for the AP, also refused to sign the form and was denied a credential.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a story on Thursday that explained it did not have any stories or photos from the Fields Open because of the credential dispute.
"The LPGA would require us to let them use our photos forever, for free," Star-Bulletin editor Frank Bridgewater said, "and we would have to ask its permission if we wanted to use our own photos in the future.
"We will not sign a form that places limits on how we can use our own photos or that allow others to have any control over our stories," he said.
In the joint letter from APME, APSE and APPM, the organizations encouraged the LPGA to "work swiftly to resolve the concerns expressed by the AP and other news organizations so that they can resume coverage of your tour."
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