Monty out, Tiger survives, Garcia cruises

Tiger Woods was no different than any other player in the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship. He just wanted to keep playing.

A comfortable margin was gone today as he stood in the fairway on the par-5 17th hole at La Costa Resort, 116 yards from the flag and an early departure suddenly a possibility.

Retief Goosen had just drilled his approach from 178 yards into about four feet, putting the pressure on Woods the way the No. 1 player in the world always seems to do to others.

"It looked like his ball didn't go in the hole. They didn't go crazy," Woods said. "But from the sound of the crowd, I knew the ball was tight. I needed to hit in there where I could have a viable chance of making 4. And I stuffed it right in there."

Woods hit his 9-iron inside Goosen, about two feet away for a matching birdie, then won the 18th hole when the South African three-putted for bogey from 50 feet.

It was hardly another walk in the park for Woods in a sunny second round at La Costa. It was nothing close to the short day of work enjoyed by Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and Mark Calcavecchia.

But it served a purpose. There's no such thing as an ugly win in this tournament.

"It's just like playing an NCAA tournament," Woods said. "You want to keep going, keep advancing. And I'm on to the third round now."

That he is, along with 15 others who head into Friday as the stakes get higher each day in the $5 million World Golf Championship event worth $1 million to the winner.

Garcia, who staged a thrilling duel with Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, birdied four straight holes for a 7 and 6 victory over Canadian Mike Weir, the biggest rout in the two-year history of the event.

Jimenez, who had to go 19 holes in the first round, dusted off Tom Lehman 4 and 3, and Calcavecchia disposed of Jose Maria Olazabal on the 15th hole.

Still, there were enough thrillers to go around:

• Jesper Parnevik was in deep trouble until Joe Ozaki missed a 2-foot par putt on the 17th hole, both made tough pars on the 18th, and the Swede won it with a 20-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole.

• Bob Estes, clinging to a 1-up lead against fifth-seeded Ernie Els, hit into the bunker on No. 18 and missed his 12-foot par putt, only to watch the Big Easy miss a 4-foot par putt.

The show-stopper belonged to Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, who eliminated No. 3 seed Colin Montgomerie with a par on the fifth extra hole.

Bjorn, who never trailed, blew a 2-foot par putt on the 17th hole to fall back to all square and then had to make a 20-footer for par on the 18th just to send the match to extra holes. Montgomerie, who made a terrific save from mangled rough on the first extra hole, lipped out a 3-footer on the third that would have ended the match.

Despite Montgomerie's loss, three of the top four were still alive, and the tournament was shaping up to be everything it wasn't a year ago when nine of the top 10 seeds were gone after the second day.

Second-seeded David Duval never trailed in his 2 and 1 victory over Tim Herron, and No. 4 Davis Love III overcame birdies on the first two holes by Jeff Sluman for a 3 and 2 victory.

It was clear Woods might be in for a fight early on when his tee shot on the second hole went left, hit a cart path and went out of bounds. Only two of the first seven holes were halved, and Woods was scrambling.

He took control on the par-3 seventh hole, which showed how quickly the sure loss of a hole can turn into a momentum builder.

Woods nailed his approach over the green into the bunker -- "I hit it THAT far?" he said to himself in disbelief -- as Goosen hit his 10 feet below the hole. Woods blasted out to 6 feet and made the putt, while Goosen ran his birdie putt 2 feet by and missed it coming back.

But while Woods straightened out his swing, Goosen finally nursed in an important putt from 12 feet on No. 16 that squared the match.

From 178 yards out on the 569-yard 17th hole, Goosen laced his iron into 4 feet to put the pressure on Woods. He answered the challenge, then used his length -- 45 yards longer on the 18th for a shorter iron he could control -- to gain the advantage on the final hole.

Woods moves on to play Shigeki Maruyama, who knocked out Justin Leonard in the second round for the second straight year.

The Match Play Championship is truly turning into a world event. Only nine of the final 16 are Americans, and four of them will go head-to-head in the third round.

The most intriguing match could be Duval against Garcia. Duval was slightly put off over all the hype bestowed on Garcia after his gallant run at Medinah.

"I don't believe he's won over here," Duval said earlier this year. "Sergio is a great player, but he's not Tiger. I don't derive any motivation from Sergio."

Maybe not. But Duval and 15 others will be motivated by one thing Friday -- getting to the quarterfinals.