CARLSBAD, California, 27 February 2004 — Tiger Woods got a scare, but emerged with a 1-up victory over John Rollins on Wednesday in the first round of the elite Match Play Championship.

On a day unusually devoid of major upsets in this 64-man World Golf Championships event, the top-seeded Woods won the final two holes to edge his fellow American Rollins in pleasant conditions at La Costa Resort and Spa.

Twelve of the 32 matches were won by the lower seed. The highest seed to bow out was No. 5 Retief Goosen of South Africa, beaten 2 and 1 by 60th seed John Huston. Woods came uncomfortably close to joining Goosen as he found himself 2-down after 12 holes and still 1-down with two left.

As he usually does, however, Woods produced when he had to, hitting his approach stiff to win the par-four 17th with a birdie. He was still in danger of imminent defeat when he left his third shot a long way from the hole at the par-five 18th.

But Rollins self-destructed. He got a little greedy and tried to knock the pin out, instead firing his third shot into a greenside bunker, from where he made a bogey. Woods had the luxury of two-putting for victory, but knocked his birdie in anyway.

Second seed Vijay Singh hardly broke a sweat in beating Shingo Katayama of Japan 5 and 3, while third seed Mike Weir and fourth seed Davis Love also advanced to the final 32.

Phil Mickelson also won, 3 and 1 over Lee Westwood of England. Perhaps the most exciting match Thursday was between Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland and Eduardo Romero of Argentina. Clarke was 2-down with three to play but birdied the 16th and eagled the 18th with a chip-in to force sudden death.

Romero had good birdie chances to win at the first three extra holes but missed them all before Clarke put away the match at the seventh hole of sudden death. Colin Montgomerie of Scotland also recovered from 2-down with three to play, beating Nick Price of Zimbabwe at the second extra hole.

Ian Poulter of England didn’t make a birdie but still beat Chris Riley 1-up, while Brad Faxon would have been three-under but lost to Steve Flesch at the first extra hole.

Meanwhile, rain delayed the start of second-round matches here yesterday. The opening match on the schedule between Americans Davis Toms and Shaun Micheel was pushed back three hours and 35 minutes to 2050 GMT. Micheel is the reigning PGA Championship winner while Toms won the same major title in 2001.

Woods, the defending champion, was set to meet South Africa’s Trevor Immelman in another Bobby Jones bracket match when showers abate, with matches starting off both the first and 10th tees.

The bracket also features Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn against Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington against American Bob Estes.

All three other top seeds also advanced to the second round. Fiji’s Vijay Singh will meet American Jerry Kelly in the Gary Player bracket while Davis Love faces fellow American Fred Couples in the Sam Snead bracket.

Canada’s Mike Weir plays Australian Stephan Leaney in the Ben Hogan bracket.

Teske leads Sorenstam, Davies and Webb in Aussie Masters

Australian Rachel Teske fired seven birdies to hold a one-stroke first round lead in the A$800,000 ($615,000) Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines in Gold Coast.

Teske, a multiple US tour winner but yet to break through for a home tournament victory, carded a five-under par 67 to finish the day one shot ahead of England’s Karen Stupples (68).

Six players, including defending champion Laura Davies and favorite Annika Sorenstam, were joint third on three-under 69. Teske is Australia’s highest ranked-player ahead of major winner Karrie Webb on the US Tour, but she needs a big win at home and to put a major on her resume to emerge from Webb’s shadow. Webb, meanwhile, criticized the greens after an uninspiring opening round of 71.