Golfing fans' hopes of a Tiger Woods v Ernie Els showdown at the Accenture world match play championship on Sunday have been dashed after Els fell at the first hurdle. Woods made it through the first round at La Costa in California, overcoming Sweden's Carl Pettersson two and one but Els's chances were ended by New Zealander Phil Tataurangi later on during the first day of action at the event.
In a dramatic game, Tataurangi holed a 25-foot putt to stay alive on the last, got up and down from sand at the first extra hole and then at the short 20th hit his tee shot to two feet. Els followed by finding sand and after failing to hole from there conceded.
Els, who has yet to go beyond the second round in four trips to La Costa, said:"I've just continued my love affair with this course. There was not much I could do about it. Phil hit a great putt on 18, made a great save on 19 and then hit a great shot on 20."
Meanwhile, there was also a first round victory for Justin Rose, who defeated former Open champion David Duval, but Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Paul Casey all suffered early exits.
Canadian Mike Weir and American Loren Roberts were involved in the longest match in the event's short history. They were still tied after seven extra holes, two more than Thomas Bjorn took to beat Montgomerie in 2000. Weir, winner of last week's Nissan Open and currently top of the US tour money list, eventually won at the 26th hole.
Full round-up of results from first round (US unless stated):
Toshi Izawa (Japan) beat Chris DiMarco 2-up
Eduardo Romero (Argentina) beat John Huston 2-up
Rocco Mediate beat Shingo Katayama (Japan) 1-up
Adam Scott beat Bernhard Langer (Germany) 3-up
Jim Furyk beat Len Mattiace 2-up
Steve Lowery beat Rich Beem 2-up
Alex Cejka (Germany) beat Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 4-up
Angel Cabrera (Argentina) beat Scott Verplank 3-up
Padraig Harrington (Ireland) beat John Cook 4-up
Scott Hoch beat Tom Lehman 3-up
Sutherland beat Sergio Garcia (Spain) 2-up
Justin Rose (Britain) beat David Duval 1-up
Davis Love III beat Paul Casey (Britain) 5-up
Darren Clarke (Britain) beat Tim Clark (South Africa) 4-up
David Toms beat Anders Hansen (Denmark) 3-up
Chris Riley beat Stuart Appleby (Australia) 1-up
Justin Leonard beat Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spain) 2-up
Stephen Leaney (Australia) beat Bob Estes 2-up
Nick Price (Zimbabwe) beat Paul Lawrie (Britain) 4-up
Niclas Fasth (Sweden) beat Charles Howell III 1-up
Robert Allenby (Australia) beat Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 4-up
Jeff Sluman beat Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 3-up
Mike Weir (Canada) beat Loren Roberts on the 26th hole
Jerry Kelly beat Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 5-up
Tiger Woods beat Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 2-up
K.J. Choi (South Korea) beat Fred Funk 1-up
Jay Haas beat Retief Goosen (South Africa) 5-up
Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) beat Scott McCarron 4-up
Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) beat Ernie Els (South Africa) 1-up
Peter Lonard (Australia) beat Kenny Perry 2-up
Phil Mickelson beat Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 1-up
Brad Faxon beat Craig Parry (Australia) 2-up
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
