The Live Report, Round 1: Accenture Match Play

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Tiger Woods took his first successful step toward defending his Match Play title with a win in Wednesday's first round.

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PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report is on the scene at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Follow Tiger Woods' round live here beginning at 2:02 p.m. ET and check back with us often for updates of all the matches throughout the day. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) FOLLOW: Live Scoring | PGA TOUR Network | CHAT: AIM | E-mail | Facebook | Twitter TIGER WATCH: Get all the highlights from Tiger's first-round match. Click here

SERGIO OUT (7:04 p.m.): Sergio Garcia's PGA TOUR season debut was a short one. The top-seeded Garcia became the second No. 1 seed to fall today, losing to Charl Schwartel, 1 up in the day's final match.

Garcia and Schwartzel were all square coming to the 18th in a match that had gone back and forth all day long. Garcia was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the hole, leaving his awkward third shot in the roug. He chipped up and sank the putt for bogey, but Schwartzel responded by making his short par putt for the win.

The last time two No. 1 seeds fell in the first round was in 2003 when Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were both bounced on day one. -- Brian Wacker

TIGER UPDATE (6:49 p.m.): The full tee times and pairings for tomorrow's second round will come out shortly, but it was just announced that Tiger Woods will go off at 2:02 p.m. ET in his match against Tim Clark. -- Brian Wacker

HARRINGTON OUT (6:25 p.m.): The first No. 1 seed to get knocked out was Padraig Harrington. The reigning Player of the Year was just beaten 1 up by Pat Perez.

That marks the fourth straight year that a top seed was eliminated in the first round. Ernie Els lost to Jonathan Byrd 6 and 5 a year ago, while Adam Scott was bounced in 21 holes by Shaun Micheel in 2007. In 2006, Els lost again, this time to Bernhard Langer, 1 up. -- Brian Wacker

IT'S ALL OVER (6:13 p.m.): On 16, Brendan Jones had a devilish, twisting 18-footer for birdie to extend the match. He missed it and with a 4-footer for par left, Jones had to watch as Tiger drained a 3-footer to win the match, 3 and 2. -- T.J. Auclair

EXTRA HOLES (6:12 p.m.): The Luke Donald vs. Ben Curtis match is the latest match to go to extra holes after neither player was able to do any better than par on the 18th hole.

That makes five first-round matches that have gone to extra holes with Davis Love III's 21-hole win over No. 2 seed Henrik Stenson being the longest. -- Brian Wacker

FEELING THE LOVE (6:00 p.m.): Davis Love III is taking baby steps this year -- and it's not because of that ankle he injured 18 months ago.

He needs to keep climbing up the Official World Golf Ranking to make the field for the World Golf Championships-CA Championships and the Masters. Love is currently 58th and he needs to move inside the top 50 to be eligible for both. So a strong performance at the Accenture Match Play Championship this week would do wonders for his ranking, given the strength of the field that features the top 64 players in the world.

Love, who currently ranks 14th in the FedExCup, also dearly wants to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team and play for his good friend Fred Couples. Love is currently 22nd and the top 10 automatically qualify for the matches which will be held Oct. 5-11 at Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco.

"So I'm working hard for a lot of that and Presidents Cup is obviously towards the end of it, but that's all part of it," Love said. "If I come out and play well and win matches and win tournaments then I'll be on the team. And I got fitted for the clothes yesterday, so that was fun. So I got a shot at it.

"'l'll at least have clothes if I make it." -- Helen Ross

HARRINGTON IN TROUBLE (5:15 p.m.): Pat Perez doesn't care about the number next to his name -- the number 16 that indicates that he is the last guy in the Sam Snead Bracket. After being all square with Padraig Harrington through eight holes, Perez dialed it up a notch. With birdies on three of the next five holes, Perez is close to dispatching of the reigning Player of the Year.

Success breeds confidence and in Perez's case that could be dangerous for the rest of the field. He has plenty of length to compete on this massive 7,849-yard layout. He is putting well and knows now, like never before, that he can not only compete with the best players in the world, he can beat them. -- John Maginnes

ELS LOOKS BACK TO MOVE FORWARD (4:59 p.m.): Ernie Els won his match against Soren Hansen earlier today rather easily, beating him 4 and 2. That'll set up a great second-round match against Steve Stricker, who advanced with a 2 and 1 victory over Dustin Johnson.

After his match, Els, who took just 24 putts today, talked about looking at old tapes of his putting stroke and trying to get back to that.

"I got Callaway to make me a nice putter, very similar to the one I used in the 90s," Els said. "I am trying to get that feel back. Not quite there yet, but that was the way I putted best with a certain technique." -- Brian Wacker

SAVING HIS BEST FOR LAST (4:45 p.m.): Phil Mickelson has never had much success in this event -- the furthest he's gone is the quarterfinals -- and at one point Wednesday it looked like another lead might slip away.

Up four through the first eight holes, Mickelson watched as Angel Cabrera chipped away at his lead, capping the comeback with birdies on the final three holes of regulation. Mickelson responded, however, making a birdie on the 19th hole to survive and advance.

"I was fortunate to win in sudden death, but I'll gladly take it," Mickelson said. " I give him a lot of credit for gutting it out." -- Brian Wacker

THEY SAID IT (4:25 p.m.): Stewart Cink is the early leader for having the quote of the day. Cink, whose match against Richard Sterne went to the 19th hole, reached the first extra hole, No. 1, right about the time that Tiger Woods was scheduled to tee off.

"I just told everybody on the first tee that he's waited eight months to play, he can wait two more minutes," Cink said. Cink lost 8 and 7 to Woods here last year in what was the largest margin of defeat in the 10-year history of the tournament. -- Brian Wacker

LEONARD MOVING ON (3:58 p.m.): Justin Leonard just wrapped up his post-match press conference a short while ago. Leonard, was fourth here a year ago, beat Andres Romero 2 and 1.

Leonard got off to a good start with a couple of early birdies, before giving some holes back, but he rallied with birdies on two of his final three holes and secured the match with a par on No. 18.

"The greens are tricky, you have to put the ball in the right place," said Leonard, who hit 14 of 17 greens and 9 of 13 fairways. "We both played well -- it was a little streaky. But in the end I made a few more putts than he did." -- Brian Wacker

WHAT'S IN A SEED (3:50 p.m.): After seeing one No. 2 seed (Phil Mickelson) almost go down, we're about to see one actually fall. Peter Hanson, a No. 15 seed, is 3 up on Robert Karlsson with three to play. Meanwhile, second-seeded Henrik Stenson is all square with Davis Love III as te two head to extra holes. -- Brian Wacker

OUT TO EARLY LEADS (3:42 p.m.): Ian Poulter and Charl Schwartzel have both jumped out to early and somewhat surprising leads, at least in the case of Schwartzel anyway.

Schwartzel birdied his first three holes and leads Sergio Garcia, who is playing in the U.S. for the first time this season, 2 up through five holes. Poulter, meanwhile, birdied three straight after an opening par to take a 3 up lead through four holes. -- Brian Wacker

PHIL WINS (3:28 p.m.): It took one extra hole, but Phil Mickelson finally closed out Angel Cabrera with a birdie on No. 18 after sticking his approach shot to a few feet.

After missing his lengthy birdie attempt, Cabrera tapped in for par. Mickelson responded by sinking his birdie putt, which drew a pretty loud roar from the crowd surrounding the 18th green. -- Brian Wacker

MICKELSON, CABRERA IN EXTRA HOLES (3:20 p.m.) Phil Mickelson and Angel Cabrera have gone to extra holes and are playing the first again. Both men parred it the first time around. Mickelson is trying to avoid losing after being up by as many as four. -- Brian Wacker

GOGGIN UPSETS PERRY (3:05 p.m.): Matthew Goggin closed out Kenny Perry 2 and 1 in what is the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

"It's one of those flukey things," Goggin said. "When you look at the draw you could be playing who's not playing particularly well or someone who's red hot. Obviously his form has been pretty good all year last year and started off pretty good this year." -- Brian Wacker

MICKELSON'S LEAD GONE (2:57 p.m.): Angel Cabrera just made his third straight birdie to erase what at one point was a 4 up lead for Phil Mickelson.

The two are tied as they come to the par-4 18th hole. Mickelson was 4 up after just eight holes and maintained that lead into the back nine. Cabrera responded with a birdie at 10 and thanks to a pair of bogeys by each player, Mickelson kept the lead until the birdie run by Cabrera. -- Brian Wacker

ALL MATCHES UNDER WAY (2:45 p.m.): The last match of the day -- Ian Poulter vs. Jeev Milkha Singh -- just teed off about 15 minutes ago. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson's match just got a little tighter. After being up by as many as 4, his lead has shrunk to 1 with one hole to play. -- Brian Wacker

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson's match just got a little tighter. After being up by as many as 4, his lead has shrunk to 1 with one hole to play. -- Brian Wacker

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (2:35 p.m.): Here's a quick check of some of the holes at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and how they're playing today in what are ideal scoring conditions with sunny skies, and warm but comfortable temperatures. -- Brian Wacker

MATCH UPDATE (1:58 p.m.): Lee Westwood beat Prayad Marksaeng 2 and 1 thanks largely to a string of birdies early in their match.

Oliver Wilson knocked off K.J. Choi, which is a bit of a surprise given how well Choi has been playing. The difference: Three birdies on the back by Wilson, who won 3 and 1.

Kenny Perry is 1 down against Matthew Goggin through 14 holes, while Rory Sabbatini is 2 down against Miguel Angel Jimeneze through 15 holes.

It looks like Phil Mickelson is closing in on a win over Angel Cabrera. Mickelson jumped out early and hasn't looked back. He leads 4 up through 12 holes. -- Brian Wacker

VILLEGAS CRUISES (1:40 p.m.): Camilo Villegas broke open a tight match when he won six straight holes with three birdies, two pars and one bogey to beat Rod Pampling 7 and 6.

"I didn't really make many mistakes," said Villegas, who won the final two events of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup last year. "I kept the ball in play. I had some good birdies; don't even ask me where, because I can't remember.

"But also Pampling gave me a couple gifts out there. A couple times he hit bad chips and it gave me a couple opportunities to get ahead in the match."

Villegas was a first-round loser a year ago in his Accenture Match Play Championship debut while Pampling made it to the third round. The young Colombian missed the cut at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia but he appears to have gotten over the jet lag and is ready to go.

"My expectations are always high, but, trust me, there's 64 players here, they all have great accomplishments," Villegas said. "They all can play golf and it's only 18 holes of golf out there, so you better get it going and you better stick to your plan and play some good golf." -- Helen Ross

AK ROLLS TO VICTORY (1:25 p.m.): Anthony Kim's match was the first to end as he birdied the 12th and 13th holes on putts of 15 and 5 feet to make short work of Wen-Tang Lin from Taiwan.

Kim's 7-and-5 victory was followed by a 7-and-6 decision by his good friend Camilo Villegas over Rod Pampling. Kim plays the winner of the match between K.J. Choi and Oliver Wilson.

Kim said he felt like he had he had found his swing while he was overseas playing in Australia and Malaysia, even though his best finish was a tie for 25th. Lin. on the other hand, struggled Wednesday, making five bogeys and a double.

"It was a tough day for Wen. It's tough traveling a long way and playing a golf course you're not familiar with," said Kim, who has logged 47 hours in a plane over the last two weeks. "So I probably didn't play as well as the score showed."

Kim actually was only home for about two hours -- long enough to "pet my dog and see my parents" -- so he was happy to have a short match.

"This is a long week so it was good to be able to save my legs," Kim said. -- Helen Ross

MATCH MADNESS (1:10 p.m.): You have to love Thursday of the Accenture Match Play. Zach Johnson made four birdies in the first six holes against Graeme McDowell and finally moved to 1 up with a par on No. 7. By contrast, Stewart Cink has only made two birdies through 13 holes and is even in his match against little known Richard Sterne.

Every player in the field will tell you that it is nearly impossible to play your best golf for six straight matches. The key, according to Phil Mickelson, is to bear down with your short game when things aren't going well. You know that you are going to have stretches where things get a little ugly. The key on Wednesday is survival. But only half of the best players in the world will manage to do just that. -- John Maginnes

TIGER SIGHTING (12:55 p.m.): Tiger Woods is at the golf course. He was practicing putting before saying a quick hello to Justin Rose. The two exchanged pleasantries before Woods made his way over to the driving range. He tees off in just over an hour and my colleague T.J. Auclair will be following him and blogging live throughout the round. -- Brian Wacker

LOCAL SCENERY (12:47 p.m.): The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club has an interesting variety of vegetation -- most notably several different types of cacti. The most visible is the Saguaro (pronounced sah-wah-roh), which rises high into the sky.

You'll remember these cacti from those old Western movies and in the Peanuts cartoon when Snoopy's brother, Spike, is featured. The mustachioed Spike lives in the desert near Needles, Calif., where his best friends are Saguaros.

The Saguaro takes up to 75 years to develop an arm and they can live up to 150 years. It's against the law to harm one of the Saguaros and special permits are needed if a housing or highway developer plans to destroy one.

Saguaros have flowers that bloom at night in April and May, as well as a ruby-colored fruit that matures in the early summer. The flowers are the state flower of Arizona where the cacti is native to the Sonoran Desert.

Although you might think so, there are no native Sagauros in other western states like Texas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico or Nevada. The cacti is native to a small area of California and several Mexican states, though.

There's wildlife on the Ritz-Carlton course, too -- bobcats, coyote, deer, eagles, foxes, groundhogs, hawks, quail, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, turtles and woodpeckers, among them. -- Helen Ross

VILLEGAS UP BIG (12:24 p.m.): Thanks to some early birdies by Camilo Villegas and some late bogeys by Rod Pampling, Villegas has taken a 5-up lead through the first nine holes.

Villegas, who has hit 7 of 9 greens in regulation, birdied the first, fourth and eighth holes, while Pampling bogeyed Nos. 6 and 7 before making a double bogey on No. 9.

This is just the second time that Villegas has played in this event, but he's already well on his way to bettering last year's result when he got bounced in the first round. -- Brian Wacker

WOODS' GLOBAL IMPACT (12:10 p.m.): Tiger Woods' return has clearly been the biggest story here and around the world with the world's No. 1 player dominating the headlines of international papers. Apparently the Middle East is no exception, either. The English version of the Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera has sent a reporter here to cover the events. -- Brian Wacker

MICKELSON UP EARLY (11:55 p.m.): Phil Mickelson's only hit 2 of 5 greens and 1 of 4 fairways so far, but he's got the wedge game working with birdies on the par-5 second and the par-4 fourth.

That has him 2 up through the first five holes against Angel Cabrera. Follow their match live by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker

BLOWOUT ALERT (11:30 a.m.): It looks like we've got our first potential blowout on the board with Anthony Kim leading Wen-Tang Lin 4 up through their first seven holes.

Kim's not doing it with a bunch of birdies, however. Having hit just one green in regulation so far, it's no wonder Lin bogeyed Nos. 3, 6 and 7 and had a double-bogey 6 on the fourth hole. -- Brian Wacker

TIGER IN SEASON-OPENERS (11:15 a.m.): How good is Tiger Woods in his first event of the year? In his 13 previous season-openers, he's never finished outside the top 10 and on six occasions he's won, including each of the last three years. Eight times he's finished in the top three. -- Brian Wacker

Here's a quick look at Woods' first start of each season in his professional career:

FROM THE RANGE (11:00 a.m.): Phil Mickelson just teed off in his match against Angel Cabrera and so far there's no sign of Tiger Woods on the driving range or practice green -- Woods doesn't go off until just after 2 p.m. ET.

Of the players who were on the range, Davis Love III was doing some last-minute short-game preparation by chipping up to a shortside pin -- one of the many shots players will be faced with this week. Love tees off against Henrik Stenson in about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Zach Johnson was working on his putting stroke on the practice green before making his way to the first tee for his match against Graeme McDowell.

As for the weather, the skies are bright and sunny with just an occasional gentle breeze. You couldn't ask for better scoring conditions. -- Brian Wacker

MATCHES UNDER WAY (10:45 a.m.): The first few matches are under way here at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. The first match of the day has Lee Westwood taking on Prayad Marksaeng.

Marksaeng had three wins on the Japan Tour last year, but Westwood brings a lot of match play experience with him and right now is 1 up through five holes after a birdie on No. 4.

In other matches, Stewart Cink, last year's runner-up in this event, is 1 up on Richard Sterne through four holes, while Anthony Kim is 1 up on Wen-Tang Lin through 3 holes. Oliver Wilson leads K.J. Choi 1 up through three holes, while Camilo Villegas and Miguel Angel Jimenez are both 1 up in the early stages of their matches. -- Brian Wacker

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.

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