The Starter: Round 1, Accenture Match Play Championship

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Feb. 25, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The first matches will soon begin at the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship. Here's how it sets up:

Matches We're Watching

Tee time	Players
2:02 pm ET (12:02 pm local)		Tiger Woods, Brendan Jones The entire world will be watching this match. Will Tiger play better than ever after his knee surgery?
10:52 am ET (8:52 am local)		Angel Cabrera, Phil Mickelson Mickelson's never made it past the quarterfinals at Accenture, but he did win last week. Which Phil will show up?
1:14 pm ET (11:14 am local)		Adam Scott, Sean O'Hair These are two of the best under-30 golfers on TOUR. No. 47 O'Hair might pull off the upset over No. 18 Scott.

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent Fred Albers previews Wednesday's first round:

Wednesday's forecast

Partly cloudy
Temp: 82 high/49 low
Expect partly cloudy skies with very warm temperatures. Wind will come from the southwest at 10 to 20 mph.

Well, he's back. It was as if the world stopped at 10:45 a.m. in Tucson, when Tiger Woods walked into the interview room. More than 100 reporters were on hand for his Q&A session. I walked some of his practice round with him. He seems very fit -- no sign of a limp, and his game seems sharp.

Anthony Kim is back on the PGA TOUR after taking a couple of weeks off. Kim says he's playing very well, and last year's Ryder Cup experience is a great memory to bring into this year's Accenture Match Play Championship. He plays Lin Wen-tang in his opening-round match, and when asked what he knows about his opponent, Kim said "I know if he is in this field, then he's a great player."

It will be interesting to see where the holes are cut for this tournament. The greens are very large but have as much slope as any putting surfaces on TOUR. If the course were to play really dry and really fast, scoring would be very, very difficult. However, pin placements are expected to be generous this week.

The one stat(s) you need to know

Only 17 Americans made this year's field. That's three fewer than last year and the fewest in the 11 years of this event, and that number has decreased each of the last five years. South Africa has eight golfers in the field (its most ever), as does Australia. England has seven (also their most), but no other country has more than three representatives. Thailand (Prayad Marksaeng) and Taiwan (Lin Wen-Tang) each have their first golfer in this event.

NOTEWORTHY NUGGETS
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.

• Prior to this year, 191 different golfers had played in this event: 96 Americans and 95 Internationals. This year, there are 12 new golfers -- 10 International golfers and only two Americans -- making this year's tournament the unofficial passing of the torch from an American-dominated event to a true global tournament.

• Former champion Steve Stricker meets fellow American Dustin Johnson in the first round in the Hogan bracket. This is the only USA vs. USA matchup in the first round, meaning there is a possibility that only one American will advance to the Round of 32.

• Two former winners of this event pair off in the first round: Australia's Geoff Ogilvy (2006 winner) plays the USA's Kevin Sutherland (2002). This is only the third matchup of previous winners in this event. In 2007, Ogilvy beat 2001 champion Steve Stricker 4 and 3 in the first round, and last year, three-time champion Tiger Woods beat the 2007 champion Henrik Stenson 2-up in the semi-finals.

• Overall No. 1 seed Tiger Woods plays Australian Brendan Jones in the first round. Woods is 8-1 in the first round of this tournament for his career, with his only loss coming to Peter O'Malley in 2002 (the only previous time Woods played an Australian in the first round). Woods has a 31-6 record overall here but he's only 5-3 against Australian opponents, also losing to Nick O'Hern in 2005 (2nd round) and 2007 (3rd round).

• Overall No. 2 seed Sergio Garcia plays South African newcomer Charl Schwartzel in his opening match. Garcia's previous highest seeding was No. 4 overall in 2002. Garcia beat Americans Lee Janzen and Charles Howell III, before losing to Scott McCarron in the third round that year.

• Overall No. 3 seed Padraig Harrington (No. 1 in the Sam Snead bracket) is playing as a bracket top seed for the first time in his 10th overall start. Harrington's previous high seed was as the overall No. 7 seed (and No. 2 bracket seed) in 2005. That year, he beat former champion Jeff Maggert in the first round and lost to Rory Sabbatini in the second round.

• Australian Stuart Appleby plays Germany's Martin Kaymer in the first round. This will be Appleby's 11th start in this event; he's the only golfer to play every year it's been held. Seven other golfers, all playing this year, will be making their 10th start: four Americans (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink and Justin Leonard) and three International golfers (Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Vijay Singh (Fiji) and Retief Goosen (South Africa).

• Phil Mickelson's successful defense of his Northern Trust Open title this past weekend might be a good omen for this week, considering that of the other four times he successfully defended a title, he won his next event twice. This is just the second time that Mickelson is playing in a tournament the week after defending a title. In 2006, Mickelson won the BellSouth Classic for the second year in a row, then won The Masters the very next week.

The Film Room

	Opening Shot Beau Estes and Brian Katrek discuss Phil Mickelson's win at Riviera on the eve of Tiger's return, and preview this week's event. Watch it
	Tiger on the course Tiger Woods played a practice round Tuesday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in preparation for the Accenture Match Play Championship. Watch it
	David and Goliath? The No. 64 seed, Brendan Jones, spoke about playing the No. 1 seed, Tiger Woods, in a first-round match. Watch it