It was the fall of the favourites as Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman knocked out holder David Toms, while Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were both ousted in a day of upsets at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
World No 1 Woods, bidding for his third title of the year
in four starts, struggled with his putting before losing a tight battle with Chad Campbell by a hole.
Left-hander Mickelson, who never led at any stage of his match with Britain's David Howell, went out 3&1 at a sun-drenched La Costa Resort and Spa. There were also victories for Davis Love, who beat fellow American Chris DiMarco 3&2, and Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who overcame Vijay Singh after 19 scrappy holes.
World No 3 Retief Goosen, who shaded Briton Luke Donald by a hole, was the only player among the tournament's top-10 seeds to book a place in the quarter-finals.
Lehman sealed a 4&3 win with a 15-foot birdie putt at the 15th. Toms, who crushed compatriot DiMarco 6&5 in last year's final, narrowly missed a 14-footer to keep alive his eight-match winning streak in the event.
"It's always nice to win a match, especially against a player of the calibre of David Toms," a smiling Lehman said.
In the day's feature match, twice champion Woods battled was three down with eight to play before mounting a rally. He chipped in for an eagle-three at the 11th and won the 12th with a par.
Campbell countered with a birdie at the par-four 13th to restore his two-hole advantage.
But he effectively gifted the next hole to Woods, finding thick rough to the left of the green with his approach and chunking his third shot into a greenside bunker on the way to a double-bogey six.
Back to one-up, Campbell matched Woods with pars at the next three holes to stay in front with one to play.
After Campbell missed a birdie putt from 29 feet at the last, Woods had a chance to take the match into extra time but failed to sink his birdie attempt from 13 feet.
A frustrated Woods said: "I thought I did pretty good today. I didn't make a bogey and lost the match. I just didn't make anything on the greens.
Australia's Geoff Ogilvy eagled the 21st hole to outlast Canadian Mike Weir and American Zach Johnson beat Shingo Katayama of Japan 4&3.
- REUTERS
Golf: Woods no match for Campbell
It was the fall of the favourites as Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman knocked out holder David Toms, while Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were both ousted in a day of upsets at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
World No 1 Woods, bidding for his third title of the year
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
