The Starter: Round 2, Accenture Match Play Championship

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Feb. 26, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The second day of 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, Tim Clark Everyone knows this is a tough draw for Woods, even though he enjoys a tremendous power advantage over the South African.
11:30 am ET (9:30 am local)		Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson This pair of Masters champions are both looking for their second win of '09. Both are expert putters, but Lefty has edge in length.
11:55 a.m. ET (9:55 a.m. local)		Justin Leonard, Davis Love III These two major champs dispatched tough opponents (Love beat Henrik Stenson; Leonard beat Andres Romero) on Wednesday.

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent Michael Collins previews the second day of heads-up action:

Day 1 is in the books and the upsets have already happened. My brackets are ruined! Well, not quite, but Kenny Perry definitely didn't help (I had him finishing third).

Thursday's forecast

Partly cloudy
Temp: 82 high/46 low
Expect partly cloudy skies with very warm temperatures. Wind will come from the southwest at 10 to 20 mph.

Of course, the one guy we expected to win did (Tiger). The question is -- after a night of icing and elevating that knee, how strong will it be for the second day of mountain climbing?

The biggest complaint of the week remains the same for most of the guys out here: The greens are way too slow. Even Woods said as much after his win.

Well, I got bad news for you boys. Even with a perfect weather forecast for the rest of the week, they cannot make them any faster. Even as big as these greens are, the humps and bumps in them prevent rules officials from making them quick.

What to look for in Day 2? I look for a great match between Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan. When's the last time Hunter was the old man in the group?

Also, I am looking forward to Boo Weekley against Sean O'Hair. I just like the North (O'Hair lives outside of Philadelphia) vs. South thing there.

The one stat(s) you need to know

Tiger Woods has been beaten only three times in his last 27 matches in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. His second-round opponent, Tim Clark, lost 5 and 4 to Woods in this event in 2007.

NOTEWORTHY NUGGETS
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.

• Camilo Villegas beat Rod Pampling 7 and 6 in one of the first matches on Wednesday. Up one entering the 6th hole, Villegas proceeded to win each of the next six holes on his way to victory. That is the most consecutive holes won in a single match at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship since Tiger Woods won the first nine holes on his way to a 9 and 8 win over Stephen Ames in the first round of the 2006 event.

Franklin/Getty Images

Camilo Villegas looks to build on his lopsided victory in the first round.

• The 7 and 6 win for Villegas was the biggest win of the day. That also ties the third largest margin of victory in tournament history. That margin also ties the largest victory in tournament history in a match that does not include Stephen Ames. Ames lost to Tiger Woods 9 and 8 in 2006 and beat Robert Karlsson 8 and 7 in 2007.

• Shingo Katayama won 3 and 2 against Trevor Immelman in the first round of the Accenture Match Play. Katayama did so by winning each of his last five holes. The last player to win each of his last five holes in a match was Kevin Sutherland who beat Sergio Garcia in the first round of the 2003 event. Sutherland won the 13th through the 17th hole en route to his 2 and 1 victory.

• One could argue the best match of the day was the last one to finish. Second seed Sergio Garcia lost to 63rd seeded South African Charl Schwartzel 1-up, despite winning six holes. Schwartzel won the first three holes of the match, Sergio won six of the next 12 holes, Schwartzel then finished the match by winning the final three holes. No other golfer lost a match today in which they won six holes and Lin Wen-Tang was the only golfer not to win a single hole on the day.

• When American Boo Weekley closed out Englishman Justin Rose on the 18th hole of their match, it prevented the English contingent from having a perfect first round. English golfers went 6-1 on the day and Americans went 12-5, the two best marks for any country with more than one golfer entered. Those two countries now comprise more than half the second round contestants. Australians went a dismal 2-6 and South Africa went 3-5. Denmark saw all three of its entrants lose, the most golfers entered with none winning on the day.

• Tiger birdied his first hole of the day to go one up in his first match at the Accenture Match Play, but this might not be the good omen that Tiger hoped for. Tiger has never won this tournament after having won the first hole. In fact, Woods has lost the first hole every time he won this tournament.

The Film Room

	PGA TOUR Today PGATOUR.COM's Win McMurry recaps all the matches from the first day of action and previews what we will see on Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton Club. Watch it
	Tiger's post-round sound Tiger Woods talks to the media about his hot start to his '09 PGA TOUR season and says his knee held up well in the first round. Watch it
	The best shots from Round 1 See all Tiger Woods' top shots in his opening-round victory in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Watch it