MARANA, Arizona: World No.1 Rory McIlroy and 14-time major champion Tiger Woods were toppled in the first round on Thursday in the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry, ranked 68th in the world and the 64th-seed in the 64-man field, defeated Northern Ireland’s McIlroy 1-up, while Charles Howell defeated Woods 2 and 1 at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club course at Dove Mountain.
Lowry, McIlroy’s friend from their days in the amateur ranks, made his run on the back nine, chipping in for birdie to win the 12th hole and winning the 13th with an eagle to gain a two-up advantage.
McIlroy pulled one back at 14, but conceded the 15th after finding a series of bunkers. He then birdied the par-three 16th for a win, but they halved the last two holes with pars, and Lowry emerged victorious.
Lowry was in a fairway bunker off the tee at 18, and a greenside bunker with his second shot. McIlroy couldn’t take advantage, however, hitting his second shot into the same greenside bunker.
McIlroy’s bunker shot rolled within inches of the cup and was conceded par. Lowry blasted out to four feet and rolled in the match winner.
Neither Howell nor Woods made a bogey in their match, which ended with darkness closing in.
Howell never trailed after going 1-up with a birdie at the second. Woods squared the match with a birdie at the fifth, but Howell edged ahead at the eighth. Woods won the 13th with a birdie, but Howell regained a 1-up lead with a birdie at the 15th and held on.
He stretched his lead with a birdie to win 16. Woods couldn’t birdie 17, and Howell’s two-putt par gave him the win.
Woods, winner of this event in 2003, 2004 and 2008, has now failed to get out of the first round three times in his career, but said he couldn’t complain about his game.
The round was continued from Wednesday, when a freak snowstorm in the Arizona desert cut short play. Thursday’s start was delayed for several hours.
Two matches were halted by darkness. Sweden’s Carl Pettersson was 1-up against Rickie Fowler through 17 holes with the winner to face Lowry.
Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Italian Francesco Molinari were all-square through 15, with the winner to face Howell.
McIlroy, who missed the cut in his only other start of the year — the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship — is under extra scrutiny in the wake of his switch to Nike equipment. He said some ragged iron play cost him the match.
Still lurking in Lowry’s quarter are major winners Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell and Bubba Watson, who all advanced.
Howell’s quarter includes US Open champion Webb Simpson and defending Match Play champ Hunter Mahan.
World No. 3 Luke Donald, who won the title in 2011 to launch a stellar year that saw him gain the world number one spot and win the European and US money titles, advanced with a 1-up victory over Germany’s Marcel Siem.
South African Louis Oosthuizen, the fourth overall seed and top of his quarter, defeated Scotland’s Richie Ramsay 2 and 1.
Kiradech on top
Yamgon, Myanmar: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat was on course to win a second Asian Tour title after shooting a five-under-par 67 for a two-shot lead in the halfway stage of the Zaykabar Myanmar Open yesterday.
The co-overnight leader had problems with his putting but scrambled to a 13-under-par 131 total at the $300,000 event, the curtain-raiser for the 10th Asian Tour season celebrations.
Thailand’s Thanyakon Khrongpha and three-time Asian Tour winner Chawalit Plaphol, who shot a 67 and 66 respectively, were two shots behind on 133.
Australia’s Marcus Both stormed through the front nine with seven-under-par 29 to tie for the second lowest first-nine score on the Asian Tour.
He finished the day with a 66 to share fourth place with Joonas Granberg (69) of Finland and Hung Chien-yao (67) of Chinese Taipei on 134.
Title-holder Kieran Pratt of Australia was disqualified for arriving late for his tee time while overnight leader Chapchai Nirat of Thailand shot a 72.
Kiradech, who lost a playoff to Pratt last year, is on track to erase that defeat but was taking nothing for granted.
“I’ve had a lot of experience in the last few years of being in contention and winning,” he said in comments supplied by the organizers. “Right now, I’m not thinking about winning yet because it isn’t the last day.
“I have two more rounds and I want to do my best and give myself a chance.” The halfway cut was set at three-under-par 141, with a total of 68 players making the weekend rounds.
