Tiger Woods cruised, Colin Montgomerie clawed his way through and Phil Mickelson crashed out of the second round of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship on Thursday.
World No. 1 Woods, who had a narrow escape in Wednesday's first round, was never in trouble in a 3 and 2 victory over Arron Oberholser.
"I played a lot better today," Woods said. "I did some work last night on the range, then did some work in the room and came out today with a game plan of what I need to do to warm up."
PHOTO: AFP
Woods said he worked "in front of the mirror to make sure that what I'm feeling is actually what I'm doing."
"In this game, feel and real are usually two different things. I was making sure what I did last night on the range was exactly what I thought I was doing," he said.
Woods will next face Australian Aaron Baddeley, who advanced without hitting a shot when scheduled opponent David Toms conceded the match because of a back ailment.
Second seed Phil Mickelson was eliminated, beaten 2 and 1 by Australian Stuart Appleby.
The departure of Mickelson, top seed in the Gary Player bracket, left Woods and Steve Stricker as the only bracket leaders left in the tournament.
Stricker, the No. 1 in the Sam Snead bracket, defeated fellow American Hunter Mahan in 20 holes.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden kept his title defense alive, but he needed 25 holes to subdue South African Trevor Immelman.
Stenson was 4-up through eight holes, but couldn't close out the match for 17 more holes.
Montgomerie produced a blistering back nine to hold off the challenge of Charles Howell.
Howell took the lead with four straight birdies from the 10th hole, but Montgomerie birdied three of the next four holes en route to a one-up victory.
Montgomerie, 59th seed, who only just qualified for the World Golf Championships event, was delighted to get through to the final 16.
"That's a good effort," he said. "Charles birdied the 11th to go all square and my caddie said, `Right, Mr Montgomerie, it's Ryder Cup mode.' I was four-under from then on, so he should say that more often in stroke play events."
Montgomerie said the 14th hole was key. He hit a six-iron to three feet to win the hole and square the match.
"It gave me the initiative to birdie 15 as well," he said.
Both players battled on the front nine at Dove Mountain, but each made five birdies coming in.
Montgomerie will get a shot at another potential US Ryder Cup opponent, Stewart Cink, who beat Ireland's Padraig Harrington 2-up.
Paul Casey was the only other Briton to join Montgomerie in the third round, outlasting fellow Brit Bradley Dredge 2 and 1.
Casey will play South Korean K.J. Choi, who defeated Briton Ian Poulter in 19 holes.
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