Marquee Match May Be Ahead

By Thomas Bonk

Feb. 28, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

CARLSBAD — A Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson confrontation might be on the horizon, although it couldn’t happen until Sunday in the final of the $7-million Accenture Match Play Championship, which has become part golf, part marathon.

It was a long day’s journey Friday at mushy La Costa, where 32 golfers played 24 matches that required 266 holes and took nearly 10 hours. When it was finally over, the top-seeded Woods and fourth-seeded Davis Love III were still standing, but second-seeded Vijay Singh and third-seeded Mike Weir were long gone.

As for the once -- and possibly future -- rival of Woods, Mickelson said he’s playing better than ever and moved easily and confidently into this morning’s quarterfinals against Love.

Meanwhile, Woods scarcely took time to wipe the mud off his shoes, reaching the quarterfinals with bookend 5-and-4 blowouts of Trevor Immelman and Fredrik Jacobson.

The work doesn’t get any shorter or easier today, when the quarterfinals and semifinals are played. That means it’s going to be another 36-hole marathon for the fortunate ones, followed by a 36-hole final Sunday.

And anyone who is still here has a chance, Woods said.

“The only thing you have to understand is that for someone to make it through three matches, they’re probably playing pretty good,” he said. “It’s just like in tennis. Guys who get into the second week understand that they’re going to have tougher matches.”

Woods, who improved his record in this tournament to 17-3, meets Padraig Harrington in a quarterfinal, with the winner facing either Stephen Leaney or Ian Poulter in a semifinal. Mickelson will play Love, who defeated Fred Couples and Adam Scott. The winner of that match will play either Jerry Kelly or Darren Clarke.

Love recognized what kind of assignment he faces.

“It doesn’t stop here, one good player after another,” Love said. “You know, I hope Phil is worried. I doubt it.”

Against Mickelson, Love may discover a surprisingly accurate opponent. In his victories Friday, a 7-and-6 blowout of Ben Curtis and a 3-and-2 decision over Chris DiMarco, Mickelson missed three of 21 fairways.

“I think that I’ve been playing better than I ever have, for the reason that I’m driving the ball in the fairway now,” said Mickelson, a San Diego native. “Because I’ve kept it in play, the course seems to be so much easier. I think after 33 years I’ve figured it out.”

Weir made two birdies in 16 holes and lost his second-round match in the morning to Leaney, 4 and 2. The difference was on the greens, said Weir, who has experienced both highs and the lows this year. Reduced to putting with a wedge because nothing else was working at the Hope, Weir experienced few problems with his putter at Riviera last week. But that wasn’t the case against Leaney.

“I just didn’t make anything,” Weir said.

Singh’s story was much the same. He lost three holes to Kelly with bogeys, made two birdies in 16 holes and was sent home in the morning round, 4 and 2.

In his morning match, Woods took a quick lead over Immelman and never let up. Three-up after five holes, Woods was 5-up at the turn and coasted the rest of the way.

“I just hope I can go out there and do the same thing for the rest of the week,” Woods said. That remains to be seen, but he was able to do it for the rest of the day.

Jacobson, a 29-year-old Swede who lives in Monaco, is a rookie on the PGA Tour after a breakout year on the European Tour when he won three times. Jacobson, whose ranking is a career-best 18th, also tied for fifth at the U.S. Open and tied for sixth at the British Open. Last week at Riviera, he tied for 39th and had a 66 in the fourth round.

But Woods was 2-up early and after Jacobson threatened, Woods went 3-up at the 10th when Jacobson put his ball under a tree on his drive and made bogey while Woods birdied the hole.

Woods won only three holes against Jacobson with birdies and won three others with par. Like everyone else, Woods said the greens were bumpy because of the rain early Thursday morning, so the key to putting was to control the speed.

“You don’t want to leave yourself three- and four-footers on these things,” he said.

Clarke, who defeated Woods in the final four years ago, birdied the 16th hole after watching Kenny Perry bogey three of his last four and toppled Perry, 3 and 2. It was a more difficult task than his 6-and-5 rout of Alex Cejka in the morning. Kelly had birdies on three of the first five holes against Chad Campbell, but only one the rest of the way in his 1-up victory.

Only a short drive from his home, La Costa is a familiar territory for Mickelson, who won the Mercedes Championships here in 1994 and again in 1998. And after an 0-5 record at the Presidents Cup in November, Mickelson wanted to prove that to be an aberration.

“Having such a horrendous Presidents Cup, I did feel like I needed to have some good match play heading into the Ryder Cup. I want [captain] Hal Sutton to have a lot of confidence in me and I want him to believe that I can help him get points.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Match Play Championship

Today’s quarterfinal pairings, with tee times, in the $7-million Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad (the semifinals will follow):

* Tiger Woods vs. Padraig Harrington, 7:20 a.m.

* Stephen Leaney vs. Ian Poulter , 7:30 a.m.

* Darren Clarke vs. Jerry Kelly, 7:40 a.m.

* Davis Love III vs. Phil Mickelson, 7:50 a.m.

Tiger vs. Phil

A look at how Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson did in the first three rounds:

TIGER WOODS

* First round -- def. John Rollins, 1 up

* Second round -- def. Trevor Immelman, 5 and 4

* Third round -- def. Fredrik Jacobson, 5 and 4

PHIL MICKELSON

* First round -- def. Lee Westwood, 3 and 1