MARANA, Arizona — Tiger Woods stayed on course for a sixth tournament victory in a row by beating South Korea’s K.J. Choi 3&2 in yesterday’s quarterfinals at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
The American world No. 1, champion at La Costa in 2003 and 2004, chipped in to eagle the par-five 10th before sealing the win with a regulation par on the 16th green.
Woods, who needed 20 holes to scrape past Australia’s Aaron Baddeley in the previous round, will meet holder Henrik Stenson in the last four, the big-hitting Swede having come from two down after six holes to beat American Woody Austin two up.
It was the 10th successive match won at the event by Stenson, who became the second European to win the coveted title with a 2&1 victory over Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy in last year’s final.
Stewart Cink never trailed against Argentina’s Angel Cabrera before winning 3&2 to earn a semifinal match-up later in the day with fellow American Justin Leonard, who holed a 10-foot birdie putt at the last to edge Vijay Singh one up.
Leonard had been three up on Singh after 11 holes before the smooth-swinging Fijian got back to all square after 17.
Woods lost the par-five opening hole after he pulled his tee shot left into the desert scrub, took a penalty drop and was unable to reach the green with his third. He conceded the hole to Choi, who struck a superb second shot to 10 feet.
However, the 13-time major champion immediately recovered when he rolled in a 16-footer to birdie the par-four second and level the match.
The next seven holes were halved before Woods chipped in from just short of the green to eagle the 10th and go one up. The world No. 1 doubled his lead by rolling in a 26-foot birdie putt at the 12th and then coaxed in a 23-footer at the par-three 14th to go three up.
Choi appeared likely to win the par-four 15th after hitting his approach to four feet but was denied when Woods calmly sank a 31-footer for a matching birdie.
