MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Tiger Woods led a trio of Americans into the semifinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship on Saturday, finally getting on track with a chip-in eagle and easing past K.J. Choi, 3 and 2.
Woods had time for lunch and a quick session on the practice range before playing defending champion Henrik Stenson, who won his 10th consecutive match when Woody Austin gave away consecutive holes to lose momentum and eventually the match on the 18th hole.
Stewart Cink took out U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, 3 and 2, to reach the semifinals for the first time, where he will play Justin Leonard, at No. 50 the lowest seeds still around at Dove Mountain.
"Bracket buster," Leonard said as he walked off the 18th green after beating Vijay Singh, who narrowly pulled off another escape.
Woods made 12 birdies in 20 holes and needed them all to beat Aaron Baddeley in the third round, a match of the highest caliber. Choi, meanwhile, had advanced over Paul Casey despite making nothing better than par over the final 11 holes.
Their quarterfinal match was of the par variety.
Woods again hit an opening tee shot into the desert and gave away the opening hole, only to square the match with a 15-foot birdie. They halved the next seven holes, although this is where Choi essentially lost his chance to beat the world's No. 1 player.
He had a putt to win the hole six straight times and missed them all, three of those putts from inside 12 feet. Woods was scrapping along with pars, throwing his club at the bag on a few occasions.
But it all changed at the turn.
Woods came up just short of the par-5 10th green, but chipped in for birdie and lightly pumped his fist. Choi was still 15 feet away for par on the 12th when Woods dropped a 30-foot birdie to go 2-up, and he had control the rest of the way.
"K.J. put a lot of pressure on me with his ball-striking," Woods said. "I just had to hang in there."
So did Leonard in the most fascinating match of the quarterfinals.
For much of the back nine, Leonard had a 1-up lead, Singh failed to hit a single shot that put pressure on Leonard, yet the Texan appeared to be under enormous pressure.
"It wasn't a clean match," Leonard said.
But when he holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 11th to win his second consecutive hole, Leonard went to 3 up and looked strong. Even after Singh drove onto the par-4 12th green, Leonard was determined to beat him with his wedge, and hit a beautiful pitch to 4 feet.
