First round short of stars but not excitement

Jean Van de Velde avoided another massive collapse Wednesday in the Match Play Championship, a tournament missing the top stars but still not lacking in excitement.

Van de Velde, who squandered away the British Open at Carnoustie with triple bogey on the 72nd hole, was 4-up with six holes to play, but needed to make a 15-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole to beat Duffy Waldorf and advance to the second round.

Waldorf, Stewart Cink, John Huston and 29 others faced a long flight home, the penalty for losing in the first round of match play at a tournament halfway around the world.

Ernie Els faced a long day.

Arriving in Australia just 18 hours before his first match, Els showed up at Metropolitan Golf Club at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to squeeze in 16 holes of practice in advance of his first-round match against Greg Kraft.

Lack of preparation appeared to be no problem, as Els was 2-up at the turn. But if the first round was any indication, just about anything could happen.

Cink looked like he would square his match with Mark McNulty on the 18th when the South African hit his drive into the trees. But the ball popped out into the fairway, and after McNulty hit well right of the green, he was granted relief and had a clear shot to the flag. He saved his par to win 1-up.

Four matches already went overtime, including a heartbreaker for Dennis Paulson.

He holed a 70-foot birdie putt on the 17th to go 1-up, only to see Australia's Craig Parry — the same guy who doomed the Americans at Royal Melbourne in the Presidents Cup two years ago — hole a 20-footer on the 18th to force extra holes.

Parry won on the 21st hole when Paulson missed a 10-foot par putt.

Scott Verplank also butchered the 18th, but came back to hit his approach into 3 feet for a winning birdie on the first extra hole to defeat Brent Geiberger.

Steve Pate also went extra holes against Toshi Izawa, but missed the fairway and the green well to the left and was defeated.

There were routs, too.

Fred Funk, who thought about returning to Florida halfway through his trip when he couldn't find his luggage, was defeated 5 and 4 by Pierre Fulke of Sweden as the most precarious World Golf Championship of all got under way.

Anything goes in match play, and not many players were sure what to expect from their games in the first official tournament of the year.

``It's in the lap of the gods,'' Andrew Coltart had said, and on Wednesday the gods were smiling. The Scotsman made seven birdies to beat fellow European tour member Phillip Price of Wales, 3 and 2.

Justin Leonard had spent December quietly working on his game, and it paid off on a warm, blustery day at Metropolitan. He won five straight holes against Patrik Sjoland and cruised to a 6 and 5 victory.

``It's a big difference beating my dad at home and coming here and winning,'' said Leonard, one of several players relieved to get past the first round. ``My dad is a great player, but he's not Patrik Sjoland.''

Steve Stricker didn't play his dad, or anyone else. His last tournament was the Canadian Open, which was played the second week of the NFL season. He was shaky off the tee, but a menace with his irons and putter and came away with a strong 2 and 1 victory over Ryder Cup player Padraig Harrington.

The match turned on the 11th hole, when Stricker ran a 35-foot birdie putt about 10 feet by the hole, but made the putt coming back to stay 1-up. On the par-5 12th, his 4-wood landed on the front of the green, but his 60-foot eagle putt was 25 feet short.

No problem. He holed that one, too, to go 2-up. After 3-foot birdies on his next two holes, he was on his way to the second round.

Stricker is ranked No. 90 in the world, but was among 40 players ranked outside the top 64 who got in when Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson and a host of others declined to fly halfway around the world to Australia for a tournament that lasts only one day for half of the field.

Others who made the most of their opportunity were Glen Day (No. 88), a 3 and 1 winner over Kirk Triplett; Craig Stadler (92), a 4 and 2 winner over Huston; and McNulty, who is ranked No. 98.

Els teed off late against Kraft, No. 104 in the world ranking and the last seed. The Big Easy didn't arrive until 18 hours before his first match, finding it difficult to pull himself away from a holiday at the beach in South Africa.

The rules of golf allow for players to practice on the course the same day in match play, because they are playing another man, not the field. Kraft could have done the same.

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