Higher seeds survive mucky conditions in match-play event

The Match Play Championship finally got under way on a golf course still underwater in Carlsbad, Calif.

Two-time defending champion Tiger Woods won his 13th consecutive match, but not without wiping mud from his eyes after hitting out of the mucky fairways Thursday at the wetlands known as La Costa Resort. Nine of the top 10 seeds advanced to the second round.

Otherwise, it was a good walk soiled.

"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting," Robert Allenby said after an easy victory over British Open champion Todd Hamilton. "If this was a normal tournament, we wouldn't be playing. You can't even walk down the fairways."

They didn't need marshals at La Costa, they needed lifeguards.

The fairways were so saturated that Davis Love III spent 10 minutes looking for a dry patch of grass.

The greens were soft and spongy, and players had to contend with heel prints -- some swore the prints were so deep they cast a shadow late in the day.

"The course was really unplayable," Stuart Appleby said after beating Joakim Haeggman in one of only two matches that required extra holes. "With stroke play, there was no chance of playing today. And match play was a mess."

But that's why they played.

This fickle format is about beating another player, not the course, and everyone faced the same conditions brought on by heavy rains earlier in the week that delayed the start of the Accenture Match Play Championship by one day.

Some handled it better than others.

Vijay Singh, the No. 1 seed who has never advanced beyond the second round, built a quick lead against Shingo Katayama and sailed to a 4-and-3 victory.

Phil Mickelson made two birdies to start the second nine and led by as many as four holes before dispatching short-hitting Loren Roberts, 3 and 1.

Sixteen matches went the distance, tying the record set last year at La Costa.

Only two of them required more than 18 holes, and the last one was perhaps the most dramatic of the day.

Nick O'Hern of Australia, playing in this event for the first time since he reached the quarterfinals four years ago, won three straight holes to take a 1-up advantage on Charles Howell III. Howell holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force extra holes, and O'Hern answered with a 20-footer on No. 1 to win in 19 holes.

Chrysler Classic of Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Billy Mayfair, trying to bounce back from the worst of his 16 PGA Tour seasons, and Mario Tiziani, who went to qualifying school 12 times before earning his tour card in December, each shot 9-under-par 63s to share a one-stroke lead at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson.

Steve Stricker had a chance to join Mayfair and Tiziani, but bogeyed the 18th hole and dropped into a five-way tie with Mark Calcavecchia, Michael Allen, Lucas Glover and Darron Stiles another stroke back.

Carlos Franco, Goeff Ogilvy and Esteban Toledo had 65s, while Arron Oberholser, John Huston, Jason Bohn, Gavin Coles, Greg Owen, Doug Barron and Joe Ogilvie were bunched three shots off the lead.

In all, 102 players broke par on the Tucson National course, with the 144-man field setting first-round records for scoring average (69.979) and eagles (22).

ANZ Ladies Masters

Japanese teenager Ai Miyazato had a course-record tying 9-under 63 for a three-shot lead after one round of the ANZ Ladies Masters at Gold Coast, Australia.

The 19-year-old Miyazato was cheered on by a gallery of several thousand at Royal Pines -- many of them Japanese golf fans visiting the popular Australian tourist area. She won five tournaments on the Japanese tour last year and led her country to a World Cup win two weeks ago in South Africa.

Australia's Katherine Hull, in second place after a 66, played in Miyazato's group along with four-time Masters winner Karrie Webb, who was in a large group after an opening 70

Sweden's Linda Wessberg, Australia's Nikki Campbell and England's Kirsty Taylor were tied for third at 67. Six golfers were tied at 68 -- England's Lora Fairclough, Sweden's Cecilia Ekelundh and Asa Gottmo, Germany's Elisabeth Esterl and Australia's Nadina Taylor and Carlie Butler.

Nationwide

Steve Bowditch shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the New Zealand PGA tournament in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The 21-year-old Bowditch, who won last week's Jacob's Creek Open in Australia, took advantage of calm morning conditions to come within a shot of Ryan Palmer's course record for the 7,137-yard Clearwater Resort.

Jon Mills of Canada, American Brent Schwarzrock, Tony Christie of New Zealand, and Australians Peter O'Malley and Darren Becke shared second place after opening rounds of 66.

Americans Bryce Molder, Ken Duke and Jeff Gove were among a group of five at 67. Ricky Barnes, the 2002 U.S. amateur champion, was four shots back after a 68.

-- From wire reports