Tiger Woods needed 20 holes to subdue Australian Aaron Baddeley on Friday and reach the quarter-finals of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.
It was the second hard-fought win in three days for Woods, who avoided a first-round upset on Wednesday by firing four straight birdies to hold off J.B. Holmes.
Two days later, Woods was tested again by Baddeley, who teed off at No. 16 up by one and missed two potential match-winning putts over the final three holes.
"It was unbelievable how many birdies we made out there today," said Woods, who had 12 birdies to Baddeley's 10. "It was just quality shot after quality shot."
Woods, seeded No. 1 in the Jones division and a two-time winner of this World Golf Championships event, was perfect off the tee at the par-three 16th and squared the match when Baddeley conceded the hole.
After both players birdied the par-five 17th, Baddeley had a chance to finish off the upset at the par-four 18th, but his right-to-left attempt from about 14 feet was short of the hole.
Woods, meanwhile, drained an uphill par putt to extend the match.
"I hit a good putt," Baddeley said. "I read it to go straight and hit it exactly where I wanted, and it broke left the last two feet."
Baddeley missed another chance on the first extra hole, where he rolled his 15-foot birdie attempt left of the cup.
Woods finally pounced, sinking a 20-foot birdie putt to win it at the 20th hole.
In yesterday's quarter-finals the world No. 1 was to face South Korean K.J. Choi, a 2-up winner over Englishman Paul Casey.
"I felt in control of the match until I lost 14 and went 1-down," Woods said. "All of a sudden, I had to find a way to at least get that control back."
Defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, extended to 25 holes on Thursday, also advanced with a 1-up victory over Jonathan Byrd.
Stenson next plays Woody Austin, who beat fellow American Boo Weekley 3 and 2.
The US' Stewart Cink ended the run of Scotland's Colin Montgomerie with a 4 and 2 victory. Cink will face US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina, who beat Steve Stricker 4 and 3.
Fiji's Vijay Singh captured the last quarter-final berth, defeating Australian Rod Pampling in a 25-hole marathon.
Singh will play Justin Leonard, a 3 and 2 winner over another Australian, Stuart Appleby.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS