Woods didn't pull off usual magic but was still pleased with week

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Despite losing to Tim Clark on Thursday, Tiger Woods was pleased with several aspects of his week.

MARANA, Ariz. -- When Tiger Woods holed that spectacular bunker shot at the 14th hole, you couldn't help but think.

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Match Recaps: All 32 matches
Daily Wrap-up: Round 2
Third-round predictions
Tiger's round: Highlights, scores
Scorecard: Tim Clark
Photos: Thurs. images
What they said: Interviews

Here we go again.

Admit it. You thought he was going to pull off a miracle rally and erase that 3-down deficit to Tim Clark in the second round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

You and just about everyone else on the planet -- even Clark. The understated South African remembered all too well how Woods was 3 down with five holes to play in his first round match last year against J.B. Holmes but came back to win 1 up.

"I figured, well, here we go, it's about to start now," Clark said with a wry smile. "I still calmed myself down. There's not much you can do. I can't change what Tiger is going to do, I can only try to make pars and birdies out there.

"I figured the match was probably going to go to 18, even when I was 3 up with three to play. You fully expect him to do something. I had to go out and play aggressive and obviously try and finish it off as quickly as I could."

So that's exactly what Clark did as he upset the defending champion 4 and 2 with a conceded birdie on the 16th hole. Clark has played 32 bogey-free holes this week and made six of his 11 birdies in the match with Woods.

Minutes later, the lone No. 1 seed remaining, Vijay Singh, was eliminated when Luke Donald came from 2 down with two to go to win on the 19th hole. Never before in the tournament's 11-year history have all four top seeds been sent packing by Day 2.

With all due respect to Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Singh, Woods' departure, though, was the biggest loss. He was playing for the first time since having ACL surgery on his left knee a week after his win at the U.S. Open last June.

Networks more accustomed to covering President Barack Obama and the economy -- even Al Jazeera TV -- jockeyed for position with the ESPNs of the world. Woods' return was a topic of conversation on National Public Radio before his second round loss, too.

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Tim Clark embraced the role of the underdog on Friday.

Woods, like many of those reporters, headed for the airport on Thursday. He left Tucson enthused, though, by the quality of the shots he hit and the way his surgically repaired knee held up traversing the rough desert terrain at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

"I'm very pleased actually with the way I hit the golf ball," Woods said. "I didn't make enough birdies today. I made some yesterday, just didn't make enough today. But I hit the ball well the last two days and that's encouraging.

"Also the way my leg feels, after walking, and especially on this golf course, going up and down the cart paths -- especially down the cart paths -- my leg feels pretty good."

As he flies home to Orlando, Woods will no doubt put ice on that knee and elevate it, as he did on Wednesday night after that 3-and-2 win over Brendan Jones in the first round. But he said he had "no pain -- zero" which may have been the best news of all.

"Now it's just a matter of getting back and playing and playing more rounds," Woods said.

Woods wasn't ready to say whether he would play in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship as most expect him to do. After all, he's won three of the last four tournaments played at Doral, and the Masters is fast approaching. So stay tuned.

Woods said he hit two bad shots in two days -- an 8-iron that missed the green at the 13th hole and a driver that flew long and right over the green on the 343-yard, par-4 15th. That ball ended up OB and Woods had to make the long walk back to the tee to reload.

Woods, as he is wont to do, though, rebounded by staking his third shot to 20 feet while Clark, who makes up for a lack of length with consistency, blasted out of a steep-faced bunker short and right of the green to 18 feet. When Woods missed his par putt, Clark was dormie at 3 up with three to play.

"I felt good today," the man with the incredibly high standards said. "I felt I went out there and hit the ball well. As I said, I just didn't make enough birdies. Tim did that today and I just didn't answer him with mine."

For Clark, the key was playing his own game -- which he didn't when he lost to Woods 5 and 4 in the second round two years ago. This time he embraced the role of the underdog and he even felt like it helped him beat Retief Goosen in the first round.

'I kind of came out with the mindset like do I really want to win this match and play Tiger tomorrow," Clark said with a smile. "I was probably a lot calmer yesterday than I normally would have been, because I don't know if I really wanted to win the match.

"Once I knew that I was going to play Tiger, I knew I'd be an underdog, and it's good to look at it that way because it takes the pressure off. ... That's the reason why I think it's so amazing what he does because he goes out every week as the favorite and he has to perform, so hat's off to what he does."

And to Clark on Thursday, as well.