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Woods clambers out of hole with fightback against Holmes

21/02/2008

Top seed Tiger Woods recovered from three down with five holes to play to beat JB Holmes in the first round of the World Match Play Championship.

The world number one had looked in serious trouble of being the highest-profile scalp on the tournament's first day before he turned on the style to make an astounding recovery.

A series of errors on the front nine allowed Holmes, the lowest-ranked player in the Dove Mountain tournament, to establish a healthy lead.

But Woods mustered all of his experience and know-how of tight situations to pull within two holes at the 14th after draining a long-range putt.

This was to be the start of a remarkable run as Woods won the 15th, 16th and 17th holes - all after holing tricky putts, including a monster from 40 feet for an eagle on the penultimate green.

Holmes had a chance to take the match to an extra hole but missed a birdie putt on the 18th to hand Woods a place in the last 32.

Elsewhere, Phil Mickelson went through to the next round in Arizona with a one-hole victory over fellow American Pat Perez, while Steve Stricker scraped past Sweden's Daniel Chopra after two extra holes.

England's Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Paul Casey are all through, but Justin Rose was knocked out by Rod Pampling two and one.

South Africa's Ernie Els was another high-profile exit, suffering a heavy six and five defeat to Jonathan Byrd, and Masters champion Zach Johnson is also out after a two and one loss to David Toms.