Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie

Accenture Match Play Championship – Woods escapes again

Tiger Woods could recall just one similar birdie slug-fest in his career after beating Australia’s Aaron Baddeley over 20 holes in Friday’s third round at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

“The only other match that was similar to that was the Match Play against O’Meara in ‘98, at Wentworth,” twice winner Woods told reporters after racking up 12 birdies to Baddeley’s nine in a tight battle of shot-making at Dove Mountain.

Woods lost to good friend and fellow American Mark O’Meara by a hole in a fluctuating final of the 1998 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in south-east England.

“I think he was 11 under and I was 10 under. I thought that was a pretty good match.”

On Friday, Woods and Baddeley treated the watching gallery to a thrilling exhibition of high-quality golf before the American world number one sealed victory with a 13-foot birdie putt on the par-four second, the second extra hole.

Woods had charged two up with birdies on the first two holes before his opponent piled on the pressure with six birdies in seven holes around the turn.

LEVELLED MATCH

Baddeley, 26, took the lead for the first time by rolling in a 10-footer on the 14th green but Woods levelled a tight match after hitting his tee shot to two feet at the par-three 16th.

“I felt that I was in control of the match the entire way around until I lost it on 14 and then went one down,” Woods said after reaching the quarter-finals for the fifth time in nine appearances at the event.

“With four holes to go, I had to find a way to at least get that control back.

“It (the match) was unbelievable, really. I made, I think, two mistakes and gave him two holes, but he did the same. Every other hole it seemed like we birdied. It was unbelievable how many birdies we made out there today.”

Woods, bidding for an eighth title in nine starts worldwide and a sixth in a row, will meet South Korea’s K.J. Choi in the last eight on Saturday.

“K.J. is one of the best drivers out here,” the 32-year-old said. “He drives it on a string most of the time and he’s been very consistent over the last few years. I expect for that to be the case tomorrow and it will be a tough match.”

Woods, winner of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa in 2003 and 2004, had not progressed beyond the third round for the last three years

Michelle Wie stumbles but survives cut in Fields Open

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) — With several cars lined up behind her, Michelle Wie sunk her shoes into the pavement and addressed the ball, nestled between the rough and the concrete curb.

“I was just kind of scared for my wrist a little there,” said Wie, who used a 7-iron to successfully poke the ball through the palm trees to the front of the 11th green.

While she settled for a bogey, that would be a defining shot.

“I was really confident with that shot. I just really trusted myself,” she said.

Wie made the cut with two strokes to spare in the Fields Open, following her opening 3-under 69 with a 73 that left her 10 strokes behind leader Jeong Jang heading into Saturday’s final round.

While she’s tied for 41st place, Wie may have already won. She seems to have found her game.

“It’s in me. I just have to bring it out,” she said.

The 18-year-old Wie scrambled for three birdies and four bogeys, but wasn’t as sharp as her opening round Thursday when she broke 70 for the first time since the Evian Ladies Masters in July 2006.

Wie didn’t see it that way and was gleaming about her round.

She qualified for the weekend for the first time since last year’s Evian, where she closed with rounds of 84 and 76 to tie for 69th.

“I feel like I’m a little rusty from tournament golf. I felt with the two really solid rounds under my belt, I just feel like I’m getting better and better,” she said. “It’s going to get better.”

Maybe because it couldn’t get much worse.

She injured both wrists last year but kept playing and struggling. She made only two cuts in 2007 and finished 19th in a 20-player field at the Samsung World Championship in October, her final event of the year. In eight starts against women, she withdrew twice and only broke par twice in 19 rounds.

“Everything is coming back together – the long game, the short game, the putting – It’s all just coming back,” she said.

Playing in front of a large gallery on her home island of Oahu, Wie is starting the season against the women for the first time in five years. She previously opened at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open where she nearly made the cut as a 14-year-old. She wasn’t invited to Waialae this year.

Wie has played well at Ko Olina, missing a playoff by a shot in the inaugural event in 2006.

Jang, who had a 64 Thursday, had seven birdies and four bogeys in a 68 to reach 12-under 132. The 2005 Women’s British Open champion was a stroke ahead of fellow South Korean Song-Hee Kim (64).

Paula Creamer (68) was third at 10 under, followed by Lindsey Wright (66).

Annika Sorenstam, trying to complete a Hawaiian sweep after winning at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay for her 70th LPGA Tour title, birdied four of the final six holes for a bogey-free 66 to put her in the hunt at 8 under with Angela Stanford (69) and Minea Blomqvist (65).

“I have a lot of work to do,” Sorenstam said. “I hope to get off to a good start. I’m going to need to go pretty low.”

Sorenstam is healthy and confident again after coming off an injury-shortened season in 2007 where the Swedish star was winless for the first time since her rookie season in 1994.

Jang started the day with a two-stroke lead over Creamer and tried to stay aggressive, paying for it on a couple of holes. The 27-year-old made a 30-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 fourth and hit a 7-iron off the tee on the par-3 eighth to 15 feet to reach 11 under.

She missed the greens for bogeys on Nos. 9 and 10 that dropped her a stroke behind Kim. Jang then birdied three of her next four holes to regain the outright lead at 12 under.

Jang said she hoping to block out all the distractions Saturday, just like she did when she won the British.

“I kept thinking to myself, I want to focus on golf and myself, and it worked,” she said.