Tiger Exits Early Out of Match Play

Monday, March 2, 2009 -- Marana, Arizona – Tiger Woods’ celebrated return was the talk of the golfing world, and so was his earlier-than-anticipated exit. The World number one was knocked out of the Accenture World Match Play championship by South African player Tim Clark. Clark played 16 holes without a bogey, six birdies, winning 4 and 2, and putting Tiger Woods away just after 32 holes.

Tiger Woods knew he had some good shots, but just did not make enough of them.

"I just didn't make enough birdies. Tim made some birdies there, and I didn't answer him in the middle part of the round, and consequently I got behind."

His knee looked as good as when he won the US Open eight months ago, and he even felt so strong that he chose to walk instead of ride the 350 yards back to the tee when a tee shot went out of bounds. He was leading in the 82 consecutive holes until the bunker in the sixth hole. He managed to square the match in the next hole, but it was tied at the turn. That was when Clark took the lead, winning three straight holes with birdies while Woods had a little bit of trouble with his tee shots. His tee shot at the 33-yard 15th path went out of bounds, and he missed a putt after hitting a driver for his third shot.

The championship is down to 16 players, led by Phil Mickelson who recently won at the Riviera. Aside from Mickelson top-seeded players include Geoff Ogilvy and Camilo Villegas.