Garcia & Toms only surviving top seeds

For a couple of 22-year-old stars, Sergio Garcia and Charles Howell III looked like a couple of kids slinging dirt in the sandbox.

Their drives sailed into the rough. Their approach shots didn't even scare the greens. Garcia made back-to-back bogeys. Howell bogeyed three out of four holes, his only par coming when he hit a shot off the cart path.

In a marquee match between two of the brightest young stars in golf, Garcia made one fewer mistake Thursday to advance to the third round in the Match Play Championship.

``We played some really good golf for 13 holes,'' Garcia said. ``After that, it got a little ... I don't know how to say it. Shaky? I don't know, something went wrong.''

It turned out all right for Garcia.

He proved to be the better 22-year-old at La Costa Resort on Thursday. And with another string of surprises, the Spaniard suddenly became the man to beat in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Was it pretty? Hardly.

Then again, that never matters in the fickle format of match play.

Just ask David Toms, at No. 6 the only other top-10 seed alive after two days. He was tied with Rocco Mediate going to the 18th and put his approach in the gnarly rough right of the green, without only about 15 feet of short grass between his ball and the flag.

Mediate had 12 feet for birdie and looked like a sure winner.

``After I saw my ball and his ball, I was just hoping to go to No. 1 and just not lose it on that hole,'' Toms said.

He hit a soft chip and got his par. Mediate rolled his putt 4 feet by the cup, then missed it coming back to hand Toms a 1-up victory.

If only the other top seeds had such fortune. Instead, they joined Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Duval in making surprisingly early exits.

-- Fifth-seeded Ernie Els squandered a 3-up lead at the turn to Tom Lehman, and lost on the 19th hole when he missed a 4-foot par putt.

-- U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen was eliminated, too, but not without a fight. The seventh seed was 5-down after eight holes, but Jose Maria Olazabal had to hole a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 1-up victory.

-- Davis Love III (No. 8) tried to battle back against Ryder Cup teammate Paul Azinger, but missed the 18th green and failed to get up-and-down for par.

-- Vijay Singh (No. 9) never led against Niclas Fasth of Sweden, losing 3 and 2. Singh has never advanced past the second round in four years of the Match Play Championship.

-- And in a battle of two guys who use the ``claw'' putting grip, Mark Calcavecchia had a relatively easy time against 10th-seeded Chris DiMarco, 2 and 1.

``As I keep going, my chances get better,'' said Garcia, the No. 4 seed. ``Because the big guys aren't there, it might be better.''

AP Photo

More Photos

Television ratings likely will suffer, unless this World Golf Championship can be converted into an episode of ``Survivor.'' That's about what it will take to win.

``All of the guys in the locker room were commenting like, 'ABC must be having a heart attack,''' Azinger said. ``But that's the nature of the beast.''

In the first three years, Woods was the only player seeded in the top 16 to reach the finals. The choices this year are down to Garcia, Toms and 14th-seeded Jim Furyk, a 2 and 1 winner over Toshi Izawa.

``It doesn't matter who you're playing, whether you're playing Tiger Woods or someone from another country you don't know,'' Furyk said. ``You still have to go out there and hit good shots. If you don't, you're not going to win.''

That was the case for Howell, who wound up with bogeys on three of the last six holes.

``If I would have made a few more pars, that would have been a big difference,'' he said. ``I hit some real good shots. And I hit some real bad shots.''

Needing birdie on the 18th to continue the match, Howell hit an enormous drive, but his approach spun back sharply and left him a 30-foot putt. It slid by on the left.

``I didn't win, and that's not fun,'' Howell said.

Chalk one up for the old guy, even though Garcia is seven months younger. He is forgotten when talk gets around to the future of golf, perhaps because he has been in the spotlight for so long -- the PGA at Medinah, a Ryder Cup star at age 19, two victories on the PGA Tour last year.

Howell has yet to win as a professional, but no one has ever questioned his potential or his ability. He was rookie of the year last year, winning nearly $1.5 million despite starting the season without his tour card.

``He's been playing some great golf,'' Garcia said. ``I've been doing my little things, too. Hopefully, you guys still notice.''

It would be impossible not to notice if Garcia marches all the way to a $1 million payoff on Sunday.

But it won't be easy, even with the top guns gone.

Peter O'Malley, the 35-year-old Australian who stunned Woods in the opening round, never led in losing 2 and 1 to Nick Price, although the other two party-crashers advanced.

John Cook, who beat Mickelson, grabbed a 1-up victory over Lee Westwood. Kevin Sutherland, the No. 62 seed who knocked off Duval, cruised to a 2 and 1 victory over Paul McGinley.

``You've still got to realize that all of the other guys who are playing beat the big guys. They are good players,'' Garcia said. ``You can't say it's going to be a piece of cake.''

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page