Gatorade ends deal with Tiger Woods

NEW YORK (AP) — Add Gatorade to the list of endorsement deals that Tiger Woods has lost.

A representative for the drink, sold by PepsiCo Inc., confirmed late Friday that it had ended its relationship with the golfer, who made a lengthy public apology last week for his infidelities.

"We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship," a Gatorade spokeswoman said. "We wish him all the best."

The spokeswoman said Gatorade would continue its relationship with the Tiger Woods Foundation.

She declined to say whether his contract was terminated early because of trouble with his public image.

Gatorade discontinued its Tiger Woods-brand drinks in November, a decision made before Woods' marital problems became known.

At the time, Gatorade stuck by him as a sponsor, but it too relented on Friday, becoming the third major endorsement the golfer has lost. AT&T Inc. and Accenture dropped Woods in the weeks following the tabloid frenzy of cheating allegations.

"We have been in discussions with Gatorade, and while we are disappointed they have decided to not continue with Tiger in their marketing plans, we appreciate their continued involvement with Tiger through his foundation," Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg of IMG, said in an e-mail.

The companies that have stuck most closely by Woods, Nike Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. - which have invested specifically in his athleticism - reiterated their support last week when the golfer made his public apology.

Others, such as Procter & Gamble Co.'s Gillette and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, de-emphasized him in their marketing.

The CEO of Procter & Gamble said earlier this week that he doesn't know whether Woods will ever appear in another Gillette commercial, saying the company did not need the "distraction" of using him in its advertising.

Gatorade owner PepsiCo, the world's second-biggest soda maker, also owns the Tropicana, Quaker and Frito-Lay brands.

Nike sticking by Woods despite off-course problemsMLS Alums: Weekly roundup

From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, big leaguers have long had an affinity for the game

Derek Jeter standsalone in the spotlight, ashe so often does, exceptthat now, as he brandishesa 7-iron on the 17thtee of Avila Golf and Country Club insuburban Tampa, a swarm of butterfliesflutters in his gut.

"It's not like we're atYankee Stadium," he will say later. "I'mnot that nervous then. This is different."

Jeter swings and his tee ball whistlesalong the ground, possibly a hard base hitup the middle in another milieu butnow just an embarrassing worm-burner,the kind that most of us have hit whena gallery, uninterested or otherwise, isin observance...and this one is mostdefinitely interested.

"Ooooh!" he says,grimacing.

Sports Illustrated's 2009 Sportsman of the Year gamely teesup another ball, and this time his shotrises majestically, bound for the dancefloor, neither faded nor drawn. It plopsdown softly about 15 feet from the pin,175 yards away.

"Did you get that?" he says to a crowdof photographers, flashing the famousgrin that has liquidated a thousandfemale hearts.

The New York Yankees captainsays he doesn't play much golf.In fact, the Yankees aren't knownfor having many golfer-playerssince management, as is the case with afew other major league teams, bars playersfrom bringing their clubs on the road.

But that hasn't stopped Jeter from usinggolf as the cornerstone rainmaker for hisTurn 2 Foundation. The seventh annualDerek Jeter Celebrity Golf Classic tookplace several weeks ago, attracting not onlythe world's Alpha Golfing Guest — Michael Jordan, fresh from hosting the eighth annualMichael Jordan Celebrity Invitational in theBahamas — but also several baseball-playingcompatriots past and present, includingteammate Jorge Posada, ex-teammate TinoMartinez, Yankee legends Reggie Jacksonand Goose Gossage, Phillies stud RyanHoward, and retired players Andres "BigCat" Galarraga, Ron Gant, Carl Everett andFred McGriff.

"Golf is the best way to get peopletogether for your cause," Jeter says. "Evenif you're not very good, everybody likesgolf, right?"

It's also, of course, the easiestway to separate corporate sponsors fromtheir money. That fact aside, there haslong been an organic connection betweengolf and baseball, both being pastoralactivities best pursued in warm, dry weather.Those old harbinger-of-spring newspaperphotographs that showed the bats andballs being loaded for spring training?They should've included golf bags. Take afew swings in the ol' cage, make a coupleof indolent jogs in the outfield and go play18 or even 36 — that has long constitutedthe dirty-little-secret daily workout formany veterans.

And though Jeter's clubs are packed awaynow, that doesn't mean the golf season hasended for all big leaguers. Particularly fora certain genus of the baseball subspecies,as Jeter notes with humorous sarcasm.

"Pitchers show up to play ballonce every five days," he says,"and play golf the other four."

There is sometruth to that, as wewill see later. But thegenesis of the golf/baseball nexus can be tracedto two baseball players knownfor hitting (Babe Ruth andTy Cobb) and one player notknown much at all.

The latter isSamuel Dewey Byrd, the onlyman to have played in a WorldSeries (the Yankees reserve outfielder appeared in the 1932 Fall Classic)and the Masters (he finished third in 1941and fourth a year later). Byrd won six Tourevents between 1942 and '46 and advancedto the final of the '45 PGA Championship,where he lost 4 and 3 to Byron Nelson.

Byrd the baseball player was knownprimarily as "Babe Ruth's legs" because hepinch-ran for the great man toward the endof Babe's career. It has also been written thatthe Bambino helped Byrd's anemic hittingby instructing him to hold a towel underhis left elbow in batting practice to makehis elbow stay down, thus promoting a flatswing; decades later, that drill became aDavid Leadbetter teaching tool. Ruth's golf game may not have beenanywhere near the level of Byrd's, but itpredictably commanded far more attention.

The May 15, 1920 edition of The New York Times — Babe was thenin the seventh year of hiscareer and his first with theYankees — carries an accountof Ruth playing a round atEnglewood Country Club in suburban New Jerseywith Yankees teammate BobShawkey (yes, a pitcher)and legendary sports writerGrantland Rice. Ruth shot51-47 — 98. But he improvedas he pursued golf with vigor,which is not surprising sincehe, like John Daly, was asfond of the extracurriculars as he was of the game that brought him fame.

In one of those absurdly silly set-up newsreelsfrom the 1920s, Babe can be seen instructinga group of "sorority girls" on the similaritiesbetween the golf swing and its baseballcounterpart. "The follow-through in both isexactly alike," says the Babe as the girls oohand aah at his expertise.

With less fanfare, Cobb, eight years olderthan the Babe, had also picked up the gameand played it avidly after he retired frombaseball in 1928. That wasn't surprising;he lived in Augusta, Ga., from 1904 to '32.Though Cobb had earned a measure ofrespectability by making millions in Coca-Cola and befriending Bobby Jones, he wasnever invited to join Augusta Nationaldespite having played there frequently as aguest, perhaps because the membership wasapprehensive that the fiery Cobb would comeinto the clubhouse spikes-high should he endup on the losing end of a $10 Nassau.

Like many superstar competitors, theSultan of Swat and the Georgia Peachexchanged trash talk about their golf gamesand were inevitably drawn together on thecourse. In the summer of 1941, as the windsof war swept toward America, these twoenemy combatants, arguably the two finestbaseball players ever, engaged in three 18-hole matches organized by golf promoterFred Corcoran. Published reports, includinga Time magazine account, have the 54-year-old Cobb closing out the 46-year-old Ruthon the 16th hole of the first match, at theCommonwealth Country Club in Boston, and Ruth winning on the 19th hole in thenext one (safe to say not the first time theBabe had won at the 19th), at Fresh Meadow Country Club on Long Island.

The rubbermatch was held at Grosse Ile Country Clubnear Detroit, with Cobb prevailing 3 and 2.The contest raised money for United ServiceOrganizations, though it's highly probablethat purveyors of distilled beverages madeout better than anyone.

From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, big leaguers have long had an affinity for the gameFire to play Chivas de Guadalajara on preseason tour

Inkster, Miyazato lead HSBC Women's Champions

SINGAPORE (AP) — Juli Inkster and Ai Miyazato shot 3-under 69s on Saturday to share the third-round lead in the HSBC Women's Champions.

The 49-year-old Inkster is trying to become the oldest winner in LPGA Tour history. Beth Daniel was 46 when she won the 2003 Canadian Women's Open.

"I'd say right now I'm definitely the underdog," said Inkster, who won the last of her 31 tour titles in 2006. "I don't think anybody expects me to win."

Miyazato, the 24-year-old Japanese star who won the season-opener last week in Thailand, moved into a tie with a 30-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole.

"It was a really long putt, but I got a really good stroke and did a down-slope putt, and it was in," Miyazato said.

Inkster and Miyazato had 7-under 209 totals.

Momoko Ueda (68), Sun Young Yoo (71), Hee Young Park (69) and Hee-won Han (71) were two shots back, and Cristie Kerr (71) and Suzann Pettersen (72) were 4 under.

Michelle Wie (69) was five strokes back along with defending champion Jiyai Shin (72) and Karrie Webb (72).

Angela Stanford, tied for the second-round lead, had a triple bogey on the 11th. She birdied two of her last three holes for a 74 to stay in contention at 3 under.

Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa - who stumbled to a 79 in the second round - shot a 73, leaving her 11 strokes back.

Miyazato said she's looking forward to playing with Inkster in the final round.

"Juli is like my idol," Miyazato said. "I feel honored to play with her."

Angela Stanford and Song-Hee Kim share HSBC Champions lead

Nike sticking by Woods despite off-course problems

LONDON (AP) — Nike will continue to support Tiger Woods even though the world's best player has taken an indefinite leave from golf to deal with personal issues.

Nike brand president Charlie Denson said Thursday he does not want Woods back on the course until he sorts out his private life, which has been in the public spotlight since a bizarre car crash outside his Florida home last November revealed allegations of marital infidelity.

Woods issued a public apology last week and has sought inpatient treatment.

"Under the circumstances, the more he deals with the issues and the better he deals with them, the better off he'll be when he does return," Denson told The Associated Press.

The sports giant's $650 million golf sector has been one of the hardest-hit segments of its business during the global recession, but Nike is standing by Woods despite any damage done to its imagine by his high-profile transgressions.

AT&T and Accenture dropped Woods from their roster of sponsorships, and others like Procter & Gamble Co.'s Gillette and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer de-emphasized him in their marketing.

"We've been supportive of Tiger since the story broke and we continue to be supportive," Denson said. "He's got issues he needs to deal with and he's dealing with them. We are looking forward to him getting back on the golf course."

Woods said last week that he spent 45 days in treatment and he planned to seek additional therapy. He did not say when he'll return to the course.

"We've been in touch with his camp," Denson said. "We're very comfortable with where he's at, how he's dealing with it and we're looking forward to his return."

Szetela hopes to be healthy for openerTiger’s mother ‘proud of my son’

From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, big leaguers have long had an affinity for the game

Derek Jeter standsalone in the spotlight, ashe so often does, exceptthat now, as he brandishesa 7-iron on the 17thtee of Avila Golf and Country Club insuburban Tampa, a swarm of butterfliesflutters in his gut.

"It's not like we're atYankee Stadium," he will say later. "I'mnot that nervous then. This is different."

Jeter swings and his tee ball whistlesalong the ground, possibly a hard base hitup the middle in another milieu butnow just an embarrassing worm-burner,the kind that most of us have hit whena gallery, uninterested or otherwise, isin observance...and this one is mostdefinitely interested.

"Ooooh!" he says,grimacing.

Sports Illustrated's 2009 Sportsman of the Year gamely teesup another ball, and this time his shotrises majestically, bound for the dancefloor, neither faded nor drawn. It plopsdown softly about 15 feet from the pin,175 yards away.

"Did you get that?" he says to a crowdof photographers, flashing the famousgrin that has liquidated a thousandfemale hearts.

The New York Yankees captainsays he doesn't play much golf.In fact, the Yankees aren't knownfor having many golfer-playerssince management, as is the case with afew other major league teams, bars playersfrom bringing their clubs on the road.

But that hasn't stopped Jeter from usinggolf as the cornerstone rainmaker for hisTurn 2 Foundation. The seventh annualDerek Jeter Celebrity Golf Classic tookplace several weeks ago, attracting not onlythe world's Alpha Golfing Guest — Michael Jordan, fresh from hosting the eighth annualMichael Jordan Celebrity Invitational in theBahamas — but also several baseball-playingcompatriots past and present, includingteammate Jorge Posada, ex-teammate TinoMartinez, Yankee legends Reggie Jacksonand Goose Gossage, Phillies stud RyanHoward, and retired players Andres "BigCat" Galarraga, Ron Gant, Carl Everett andFred McGriff.

"Golf is the best way to get peopletogether for your cause," Jeter says. "Evenif you're not very good, everybody likesgolf, right?"

It's also, of course, the easiestway to separate corporate sponsors fromtheir money. That fact aside, there haslong been an organic connection betweengolf and baseball, both being pastoralactivities best pursued in warm, dry weather.Those old harbinger-of-spring newspaperphotographs that showed the bats andballs being loaded for spring training?They should've included golf bags. Take afew swings in the ol' cage, make a coupleof indolent jogs in the outfield and go play18 or even 36 — that has long constitutedthe dirty-little-secret daily workout formany veterans.

And though Jeter's clubs are packed awaynow, that doesn't mean the golf season hasended for all big leaguers. Particularly fora certain genus of the baseball subspecies,as Jeter notes with humorous sarcasm.

"Pitchers show up to play ballonce every five days," he says,"and play golf the other four."

There is sometruth to that, as wewill see later. But thegenesis of the golf/baseball nexus can be tracedto two baseball players knownfor hitting (Babe Ruth andTy Cobb) and one player notknown much at all.

The latter isSamuel Dewey Byrd, the onlyman to have played in a WorldSeries (the Yankees reserve outfielder appeared in the 1932 Fall Classic)and the Masters (he finished third in 1941and fourth a year later). Byrd won six Tourevents between 1942 and '46 and advancedto the final of the '45 PGA Championship,where he lost 4 and 3 to Byron Nelson.

Byrd the baseball player was knownprimarily as "Babe Ruth's legs" because hepinch-ran for the great man toward the endof Babe's career. It has also been written thatthe Bambino helped Byrd's anemic hittingby instructing him to hold a towel underhis left elbow in batting practice to makehis elbow stay down, thus promoting a flatswing; decades later, that drill became aDavid Leadbetter teaching tool. Ruth's golf game may not have beenanywhere near the level of Byrd's, but itpredictably commanded far more attention.

The May 15, 1920 edition of The New York Times — Babe was thenin the seventh year of hiscareer and his first with theYankees — carries an accountof Ruth playing a round atEnglewood Country Club in suburban New Jerseywith Yankees teammate BobShawkey (yes, a pitcher)and legendary sports writerGrantland Rice. Ruth shot51-47 — 98. But he improvedas he pursued golf with vigor,which is not surprising sincehe, like John Daly, was asfond of the extracurriculars as he was of the game that brought him fame.

In one of those absurdly silly set-up newsreelsfrom the 1920s, Babe can be seen instructinga group of "sorority girls" on the similaritiesbetween the golf swing and its baseballcounterpart. "The follow-through in both isexactly alike," says the Babe as the girls oohand aah at his expertise.

With less fanfare, Cobb, eight years olderthan the Babe, had also picked up the gameand played it avidly after he retired frombaseball in 1928. That wasn't surprising;he lived in Augusta, Ga., from 1904 to '32.Though Cobb had earned a measure ofrespectability by making millions in Coca-Cola and befriending Bobby Jones, he wasnever invited to join Augusta Nationaldespite having played there frequently as aguest, perhaps because the membership wasapprehensive that the fiery Cobb would comeinto the clubhouse spikes-high should he endup on the losing end of a $10 Nassau.

Like many superstar competitors, theSultan of Swat and the Georgia Peachexchanged trash talk about their golf gamesand were inevitably drawn together on thecourse. In the summer of 1941, as the windsof war swept toward America, these twoenemy combatants, arguably the two finestbaseball players ever, engaged in three 18-hole matches organized by golf promoterFred Corcoran. Published reports, includinga Time magazine account, have the 54-year-old Cobb closing out the 46-year-old Ruthon the 16th hole of the first match, at theCommonwealth Country Club in Boston, and Ruth winning on the 19th hole in thenext one (safe to say not the first time theBabe had won at the 19th), at Fresh Meadow Country Club on Long Island.

The rubbermatch was held at Grosse Ile Country Clubnear Detroit, with Cobb prevailing 3 and 2.The contest raised money for United ServiceOrganizations, though it's highly probablethat purveyors of distilled beverages madeout better than anyone.

Langer wins Allianz Championship in playoffFire to play Chivas de Guadalajara on preseason tour

Angela Stanford and Song-Hee Kim share HSBC Champions lead

SINGAPORE (AP) — Angela Stanford shot a 1-under 71 on Friday for a share of the lead with Song-Hee Kim after the second round of the HSBC Champions.

Stanford, the former TCU star who has four LPGA Tour victories, and Kim (70) had 5-under 139 totals on Tanah Merah's Garden Course during another hot, windy day where the temperature reached 94 degrees.

"I felt like I played the front nine really well and the back nine, not so well," Stanford said. "So I don't know, I guess it could be a combination of things, but it was a completely different wind on the back side, literally switched as I got to (the) tee."

Hall of Famer Juli Inkster (70) was a stroke back along with Ai Miyazato (71), Suzann Pettersen (70), Hee-Won Han (67) and Sun Young Yoo (70). Last week in the season-opening LPGA Thailand, Miyazato rallied to beat Pettersen by a stroke.

Cristie Kerr (73) trailed by two strokes, while Karrie Webb was another shot back after a 72.

Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa, tied for the first-round lead after a 68, had a 79 to drop eight strokes back at 3 over. She had four bogeys and a triple bogey on the par-4 18th. The Mexican star won the inaugural tournament in 2008.

It was reminiscent of her 79 in the second round of last year's U.S. Women's Open. Her worst round on tour is an 81 at the Wegmans LPGA at the Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y., in 2004. But she was not yet counting herself out of contention.

"I'm still going to try to finish strong," Ochoa said. "It's important tomorrow to shoot 6 or 7 under."

Opponents had to look twice when they saw the score.

"I thought it was a mistake," Stanford said. "I looked up at the board and I'm like 'Do they have that right up there?'"

Defending champion Jiyai Shin was 2 under after her second straight 71, and Michelle Wie was 1 over after a 73.

Ochoa shoots 68 for share of HSBC Champions lead

Ochoa shoots 68 for share of HSBC Champions lead

SINGAPORE (AP) — Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa birdied two of the final three holes for a 4-under 68 and a share of the first-round lead Thursday on a hot, windy day at the HSBC Champions.

Cristie Kerr, Angela Stanford and Hee Young Park also shot 68s. Kerr birdied five of the last six holes on Tanah Merah's Garden Course, Stanford had a bogey-free round, and Park overcame three bogeys with seven birdies.

"I'm really happy with four under," Ochoa said. "I left some out there, but hopefully I'll get them tomorrow."

Ochoa won the 2008 tournament by 11 strokes, finishing at 20-under 268.

Ai Miyazato, the winner Sunday in the season-opening LPGA Thailand, was a stroke back along with Sophie Gustafson, Christina Kim and Song-Hee Kim.

Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen shot 70s, while defending champion Jiyai Shin opened with a 71, and Michelle Wie had a 72.

Several players said the swirling wind made play more difficult in the afternoon.

"When we started it was blowing one direction and as it picked up it started to change direction," Stanford said. "It was a little tricky coming down the stretch today."

Kerr got off to a rough start, with bogeys on two of the first three holes, but she finished with birdies on five of the last six.

Biggest star at Waste Management Phoenix Open is the tournament itself

The party's on, a little late, at Phoenix Open

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The party's on a bit later than usual and with a new title sponsor at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Formerly the FBR Open, the raucous event has drawn more than a half-million fans in past years. A scheduling conflict pushed the tournament back, for this year only, from its usual Super Bowl week date.

Phil Mickelson, who skipped last week's Match Play Championship for a family vacation, is a fixture at the Phoenix Open and has won twice, in 1996 and 2005. He attended Arizona State and lived for a time in Scottsdale.

"It's just a special tournament," Mickelson said, "and I think guys that have gone to ASU and lived here, grown up here, this is really a neat event. It provides an experience that you just don't get week in and week out."

The tournament, in its 75th year, begins a four-day run on Thursday at TPC Scottsdale with a forecast of rain late in the week threatening to dampen huge weekend crowds, by far the biggest on the tour.

The apex of the party atmosphere comes at the par-3 16th hole, where a crowd estimated at 12,000 to 15,000 at its peak surrounds the players as if it was a football stadium. Players walk through a tunnel to be greeted by chants and songs aimed at their alma mater or home country.

The fans cheer the great shots, and in a blatant - gasp - violation of golf decorum, loudly boo the bad ones. It was here that Tiger Woods was showered by beer when he hit a hole in one in 1997. Woods hasn't played in the tournament since 2001, when an orange was thrown across a green while he was getting ready to putt.

Instead, he opted for the big money offered in Dubai.

"I think it was pretty intimidating at first," defending champion Kenny Perry said of the scene at No. 16. "... You listen to the young kids in the locker room, and a lot of people don't come here because of that hole. They won't play here because they don't want them yelling at them and stuff."

But, Perry said, "most of the guys really enjoy it. It's only one hole a year. We really don't have this kind of atmosphere anywhere else on the PGA Tour."

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem called the atmosphere "unique."

"I don't think it comes as a shock that we've had years where we've had some concerns about the, you know, pushing the edge a little bit in terms of the atmosphere that's created," Finchem said.

For instance, in 1999 a drunken man hollering at Woods was found to be carrying a loaded gun.

But Finchem said the tournament sponsor Thunderbirds "have done a terrific job in the last number of years" in keeping things under control.

The Thunderbirds, the commissioner said, "have a big event with an awful lot of people, have tremendous enthusiasm for the play, significant decibel levels, but at the same time maintain an atmosphere that the guys can play golf, and that's not an easy challenge."

Finchem said tour officials are "very comfortable with what's happening here now."

The biggest crowds, topping 150,000, are on Saturday. But a 50 percent chance of rain, possibly with thunderstorms, is forecast for that day, although it could hold off until the evening.

Perry defeated Charley Hoffman to win last year on the same day the Arizona Cardinals played Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. Perry went on to win the Travelers Championship for his 14th PGA Tour victory.

"I heard 'defending champ' all the way from the first tee to the last tee," Perry said after his pro-am round on Wednesday. "That's always a special feeling. It's even hard to win one tournament, and when you do finally get a win at a place, how everybody supports you is pretty special."

MLS Alums: Weekly roundupBiggest star at Waste Management Phoenix Open is the tournament itself

Biggest star at Waste Management Phoenix Open is the tournament itself

Whether you call it the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Greatest Show on Grass or the last stop on the 2010 West Coast Swing, this week's Tour stop at TPC Scottsdale is a drinking tournament with a golfing problem. Every year at least one fan stops in the middle of the bacchanalia, eyes a pro as he makes his way from green to tee, and says with sincere surprise, "There's a golf tournament going on?"

The answer to that question is a resounding yes, especially this year, when Waste Management, in its first year as title sponsor, got a sweet spot on the schedule. Falling a week after the first World Golf Championship event, two weeks before the second WGC, and during a dark week in Europe, the WMPO has drawn an above-average field.

Two-time champion Phil Mickelson will try to atone for last year's missed cut in Phoenix and get into the win column after three uninspired starts so far in 2010.

Ian Poulter, fifth in the World Ranking after his victory at the Accenture, will make his first start in Phoenix. His future Ryder Cup mate Martin Kaymer, eighth in the Ranking, will try to match Poulter with his own maiden W in the U.S.

Kaymer is a long way from his native Germany, but he's literally at home at the WMPO. After practicing in Phoenix on and off for years, he found the climate agreed with him and bought a house there. Asked on Tuesday how close it is to TPC Scottsdale, he replied, "You want to visit me tonight? I invite you for barbecue."

(Real answer: Kaymer said he lives about 15 minutes from the course.)

Yet none of the aforementioned players would be considered the favorite this week. That designation would fall on two-time Phoenix Open champion J.B. Holmes, who has quietly notched two top-three finishes in his last two starts.

Holmes is part of a huge throng of talented 20-somethings bound to catch the attention of the largely college-aged crowd at this event. There's Rickie Fowler, Michael Sim, Jason Day, Anthony Kim, Troy Merritt and James Nitties (T4 here last year).

Of special concern for players like Q school champ Merritt is the Tour's reshuffle, which will happen after the conclusion of the WMPO and reassign priority rankings in the 2010 rookie class. That means this could well be the last week that a pro like Graham DeLaet, who was first alternate before getting into this week's field, has more status than, say, West Coast Swing star Alex Prugh, 8th alternate and out of luck in Phoenix.

Unless one of his fellow rookies has a big week at TPC Scottsdale, Prugh, on the strength of three top-10 finishes, is expected to rise to the top of the reshuffle.

The star of the week is bound to be the tournament itself, which always looks less like a hushed gathering of high-strung strivers and more like a fraternity party spread over 18 holes — mostly the enclosed, par-3 16th hole.

"If there's one person moving behind the green, you can focus on that one person," said Charley Hoffman, Waste Management's mop-topped, green-gloved pitchman and runner-up to Kenny Perry in a playoff here last year. "If there's 50,000 people, you can't focus on anything [in the crowd] so it doesn't bother you. It's just like if everybody's talking, it doesn't bother you."

Well, yes and no.

On 16, players know they'll get booed if they miss the green. They'll also hear chants strongly urging them to tip their caps, commentary on their sartorial choices (Fowler, Poulter), commentary on their hair (Hoffman), and various other chirps.

Soon-to-be senior Kenny Perry is the defending champion this week, and he'll try to rebound from a first-round exit at the Accenture.

Others to keep an eye on include Kevin Na, third here in '09 and usually in the mix on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale; Camilo Villegas, coming off a third-place finish at the Accenture; Ryan Moore, who tied for sixth last year; and Alvaro Quiros, the big hitter from Spain whose game would seem perfect for this bomber-friendly track.

Fred Couples, who won his first tournament on the Champions circuit two weeks ago, will also tee it up in Phoenix, as there is no tournament on the senior tour this week.

• Jiyai Shin defends her title at the LPGA's HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore, where the field is also scheduled to include last week's winner Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer (T3 here last year), Lorena Ochoa and Michelle Wie.

"It is definitely Asia's major," Christie Kerr said. "The competition is amazing, and we are looking forward to teeing it up on Thursday."

• Vance Veazey will try to repeat as champion of the Nationwide Tour's Panama Claro Championship in Panama City, Panama.

The par-70, 7,123-yard Panama Golf Club is the star in this event, now in its seventh year. The course played to a scoring average of 71.683 in last year's tournament, making it the toughest test on the schedule for the third time in the last six years.

Poulter routs Garcia to reach Match Play finalMLS Alums: Weekly roundup

P&G keeping Woods on shelf

CINCINNATI (AP) — The CEO of the Procter & Gamble Co. says he doesn't know whether golfer Tiger Woods will ever appear in another Gillette commercial, and everyone else wonders when he'll next appear in a televised golf tournament.

Bob McDonald, who is also chairman of the Cincinnati-based consumer products company, says P&G wishes Woods the best on his efforts to work on family issues, after Woods' public apology for infidelity last Friday.

"He doesn't need to be distracted by us using his advertising, and we don't need the distraction of us using the advertising, either," McDonald told The Associated Press.

The comments came as others with ties to Woods await word on his plans to return to the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, WFTV.com in Orlando, Fla., says Woods and his wife have offered a personal apology for media attention to parents of children at the preschool that their 2-year-old daughter attends.

Woods said last week he plans to return to golf, but doesn't know when, leaving the possibility of upcoming major PGA events such as the Masters running on television without him as a drawing card. Tournaments in which Woods isn't playing generally suffer a drop in viewership and a loss of advertising revenue, says Larry Novenstern, executive vice president of Optimedia.

CBS Sports President Sean McManus says golf does better economically with Woods, but that it remains valuable for network TV.

"We're all looking forward to him coming back, but until then, we're doing perfectly fine," McManus said.

For Procter & Gamble, Woods still appears online among the "Gillette Champions," but new commercials for a Gillette shaver and related products feature baseball's Derek Jeter and tennis' Roger Federer but not Woods. The three were in Gillette's major advertising campaign last year.

Asked if Woods will be in future advertising, McDonald replied: "I don't know ... we've got lots of great spokespeople."

P&G unit Gillette signed Woods to a contract in 2007; Gillette officials decline to say its length and value. AT&T Inc. and Accenture dropped Woods completely in the weeks after the first revelations about his personal life. Gillette was among sponsors that de-emphasized him in their marketing.

Meanwhile, McDonald said P&G is pleased with returns so far on its biggest Olympic involvement yet, as a sponsor of the U.S. team in Vancouver and also of individual athletes. He mentioned speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, who set a U.S. team record by winning his seventh Winter Olympics medal, appearing in Vicks cold medicine commercials.

With television ratings up amid a strong U.S. team performance, P&G is running a "Thank you, Mom" advertising campaign that has included help with travel expenses for athletes' mothers.

"I've loved it," McDonald said, adding that P&G has gotten more positive attention and feedback than expected.

---

AP Television Writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.

Watson: Woods needs to show humility upon returnCrew re-sign prolific Argentine icon Schelotto

Questions for ... Dr. Joseph Parent

As the author of Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game and Zen Putting: Mastering the Mental Game on the Greens , Dr. Joseph Parent has used Buddhist principles to teach the mental side of the game for the past 40 years.

After the Dalai Lama, Tiger Woods might be the most famous Buddhist in the world after his admission last Friday that he was now going to lean on Buddhism during his long process of healing from sexual addiction and marital infidelity. What kind of Buddhist is Tiger?

Tiger was raised by his mother, Tida, in the "Way of the Elders" or Theravada Buddhism. It's the dominant form of Buddhism in southern Asia, where she grew up in Thailand. They trace their teachings back to the elders of the first Buddhist community over 2,500 years ago.

Can you fault Tiger for having a God complex? Earl Woods did say in a famous Sports Illustrated interview with Gary Smith that his son would be bigger than Buddha.

Before you can have the influence of a Buddha, you have to become more like a Buddha. Buddha is not a god. He was a human being. Buddha literally means one who is awake. We're all in some form of sleep and Tiger was in a dream state over the last several years. We have a saying in Buddhism, "Words don't cook rice." We've heard the words from Tiger about the path that he wants to take, now we have to see the action.

Watching him play golf do you see a Buddhist?

Yes. In Buddhism there is something called mindful awareness, which is about being completely present in the moment. From his breathing and pre-shot routine, you can see in Tiger that level of commitment, presence and focus.

What about all the cursing and club slamming?

Too often Tiger acts like a spoiled brat.

Conduct has to do with compassion, kindness and consideration. It doesn't mean to suppress emotion, but to channel it in such a way that one could be a good example for others. People have sometimes viewed his on-course tirades as passion, but in the Buddhist path one has to learn to channel this passion into an act of compassion — compassion for one's self and compassion for others. When he says that's his passion that's just an excuse for not applying any discipline.

What does this selfish behavior on the golf course have to do with his bad behavior off of it?

It's the lack of compassion and awareness of the consequences of his actions that's gotten him into trouble. When you start to become egotistical and entitled, you start treating people not so well. He acknowledged this in his statement last Friday.

So all this success has driven him to be a serial adulterer and a poor Buddhist?

Buddhism doesn't say it's wrong to have desires. It's when these desires become out of proportion to reality that you start to cause harm to yourself and others.

How important is to have people in your life who share some of these principles like compassion and mindfulness and awareness? Tiger's caddie Steve Williams has said that he doesn't plan to change anything about the way he sometimes crudely protects his boss on the course.

A player isn't just responsible for his or herself. They are also responsible for their caddie. If Steve acts like a jerk it reflects poorly on Tiger. A part of the caddie's vigilance and responsibility is to be a protector of his player. But it's not appropriate for Steve or any caddie to threaten or beat up a heckler.

Tiger has said that he is by nature a control freak. How can this be in sync with Buddhism?

Tiger has definitely tried too hard to control his environment and to control the world to fulfill his wants and needs. It's an egotistical need. As a Buddhist he needs to transform that controlling energy that's made him such a wildly successful and self-disciplined golfer into a more compassionate and giving person. For him it has to be about channeling negative energies into positive ones — passion to compassion. He's already done a lot of that with his learning center and his foundation.

Is Tiger a bad person?

We are all inherently good people. Tiger doesn't need to find wisdom or compassion. It's already inside of him. It's just been corrupted into selfishness and addiction.

Give me an anecdote from your book Zen Golf that might help Tiger on the golf course?

It's called Chi Chi's prayer. Chi Chi Rodriguez was once asked if he ever prays to make a putt. Chi answered, "No, I pray that I will respond well if I miss."

Can Tiger change?

Well he's already taken the first step by making a confession. And now through therapy, he's made it clear he wants to make amends for his actions and ultimately to make a sincere effort to change. Yet through all of this though he can't lose his sense of the basic goodness that we all have in ourselves. In other words, the person that he wants to be is already there.

Is Tiger's pursuit of major championships and Jack's record of 18 majors anathema to this process of healing?

The most important thing is putting things into the proper perspective. Having records and winning tournaments is something that you do but it's not who you are. If you ask Jack Nicklaus "Are all of those wins who you are?" He would tell you, "Hell, no." That's the distinction that Tiger has to make. Tiger has to be driven more by giving than winning tournaments. Arnold Palmer won a lot of tournaments, but he was always more giving to his fans.

Could all this talk about compassion and giving make Tiger less of a menace on the golf course?

No, I think that this is a mistaken idea. I think that becoming a more complete and whole person will help him better accomplish those goals because he will have peace of mind.

How was he able then to win so much and have this double life?

He compartmentalized so that he wasn't the same person that went around with the women in after hours when he was on the golf course. So he had peace of mind on the golf course, but I think that began to erode this past year. I'm just speculating, but in 2009 I think things began to pile up where it became very difficult for him to compartmentalize.

What will Tiger the Buddhist look like?

I think the biggest difference that we'll see from the Tiger on the golf course is how he conducts himself after a shot and how gracious and giving he is to fans whether he shots 65 or 75. He doesn't need to lose his intensity and focus, just how he responds to adversity and change.

Outside of your books, what three Buddhist-related tracts should Tiger have in his golf bag?

A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield; Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa; and Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh.

In your book Zen Putting you have something called the "Sandwich of the Day," which you believe could help Tiger through this. Could you explain it?

The Path is the goal. It's starting every day with the intention of being aware, present and compassionate all through the day. Through the day you keep checking in and when you wander off into unhealthy trains of thought, you bring yourself back to the present and to your values. And at the end of the day you reflect on how you did.

Dr. Joseph Parent's books can be purchased on zengolf.com

Tiger’s mother ‘proud of my son’

Langer wins Allianz Championship in playoff

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Bernhard Langer's bunker shot was plugged about 45 feet from the hole in a playoff at the Allianz Championship.

Turns out, the German star had John Cook just where he wanted him.

Langer holed the difficult shot for an eagle to edge Cook on the first extra hole, to the delight of his many fans in his adopted hometown.

"It doesn't get any better than that, to play near where you live is fantastic," said Langer, who dropped his club and jumped for joy after winning for the ninth time in 48 career Champions Tour starts.

"To finish it off the way I did today with an unbelievable shot, that only happens every so often, and makes it that much more thrilling. I'm still flabbergasted. ... You could put me in there 50 times and I probably wouldn't hole again."

Cook missed a 30-foot eagle putt on the playoff hole.

"Hall of Famers do stuff like that," Cook said about Langer. "I felt, for sure, if I hit a good putt here, I have a good chance to win the golf tournament."

Langer and Cook closed with 5-under 67s to finish at 17-under 199 on The Old Course at Broken Sound Club. Langer earned $255,000.

Langer lost the lead when he missed a 4-foot par putt on No. 17, but rebounded with a birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to tie Cook, recovering after his tee shot landed in a bed of crushed shells.

"I've been all over the world and won a lot of tournaments, and the way this turned out it's definitely in the top three of my experiences," Langer said. "The two Masters weren't shabby and there was a couple of wins in my home country, too."

Joey Sindelar (67) finished third, a stroke out of the playoff. Gene Jones (66) was fourth at 15 under, and Mike Reid (68), Loren Roberts (69), Tom Lehman (69) and Tim Simpson (71) were another stroke back.

Kaymer wins Abu Dhabi Championship by 1 shotFire sweep opening preseason matches

Ian Poulter wins Match Play Championship

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Despite eight European Tour victories and a 5-2 record in two Ryder Cup appearances, mention Ian Poulter to the casual golf fan and the conversation would start with his wardrobe.

The Union Jack trousers he once wore at a major. Colors that are found in a bag of Skittles. When he wore a bright aqua shade earlier this week at the Match Play Championship, he made sure half of his shoes were the same color, along with the print on his sponsor logos.

The highlight of every evening is ironing his clothes, most of which he designs.

"For me it's a business, and one that I'm very passionate about," Poulter said. "And I take pride and care on how I present myself on the golf course. And a lot of people haven't really seen it that way over the last few years."

That might be about to change.

Dressed in a soft pink outfit for a chilly day in the high desert, Poulter collected the biggest win of his career Sunday in the Match Play Championship. With a stellar short game and unusual calm, he led over the final 28 holes and beat Paul Casey, 4 and 2.

It was an all-England final in the first World Golf Championship of the year, yet among the most significant achievements for Poulter was winning for the first time on American soil.

"It's been a long time coming," Poulter said. "Five or six years of hard work, coming over to change my residency, to be living in America, to finally win over here ... it means everything. And it's just so pleasing to be able to finally say now I'm a winner on the PGA Tour."

Casey already is a PGA Tour winner - he won the Houston Open last year - but Match Play is becoming a burden. He became the first player in the 12-year history of his tournament to lose consecutive years in the championship matches.

He didn't have much of a chance either time.

A year ago, Geoff Ogilvy built a 3-up lead after the morning 18 holes on his way to a 4-and-3 victory. Poulter seized command on the back nine of the morning session by winning three holes in a four-hole stretch, then settled for a 2-up lead at the turn.

Momentum was on Casey's side at lunch. The start of the second 18 didn't taste so well.

Poulter birdied the first two holes to go 4 up, and while Casey cut that lead in half with eight holes to play, he never got closer. The last good chance appeared to come at the 15th, when both drove into a collection area right of the green on the 307-yard hole, with Poulter facing the more difficult shot. He had to go straight up a steep slope with about 15 feet of green. And he had mud on his ball.

"I had to hit that shot absolutely perfect," Poulter said. "And I didn't actually see what happened, but it finished a couple of inches from the hole. It was perfect. That's one of the nicest shots I've played in a while."

That put him 3 up with three to play, and Poulter closed out Casey with a par on the 16th.

Casey could have attributed his play to fatigue. Before he reached the final, he had to finish his semifinal match against Camilo Villegas early Sunday morning. Villegas hooked his opening tee shot into the desert, and Casey won with a par to win in 24 holes.

Villegas, equipped with a new attitude to not be so hard on himself, rebounded to whip Sergio Garcia in the consolation match, 5 and 4.

Casey spent ample time talking about shots that didn't go where he was aiming, which usually is a problem in golf. Perhaps the most damaging came at the par-5 13th, when he had a 7-iron to the green for his second shot and missed it badly.

But he knew the biggest reason he lost.

"Ian played great stuff," Casey said. "He did what he needed to do today. I think he kept it in play on every single hole, which is pretty impressive around here, and made a lot of clutch putts He's putting very, very well."

Poulter gave credit to a new lob wedge with a little more bounce to help the ball come out a little higher, one of the adjustments he has made for new grooves. It helped him on delicate shots, such as behind the 13th green in the morning session, behind the 12th green in the afternoon, and the sensational wedge on the 15th that effectively gave him the tournament and the $1.4 million prize.

"I would say my short game, certainly this week, has been as good as it's ever been," Poulter said. "The last 12 months, it's been up there with the best of them."

Perhaps it was only fitting that he posed with a WGC trophy named the "Walter Hagen Cup."

Hagen, among golf's greatest players with 11 majors, was regarded as much for his snappy attire as his record four straight PGA Championships when they were match play.

The Haig would have liked this spunky Englishman.

"Are you saying I'm a snappy dresser?" Poulter asked with a grin.

That's a matter of taste. As for his short game? It had no match at Dove Mountain.

Casey advances to final against PoulterRapids to host Sounders in “Charity Shield” Match

Ian Poulter's win at Match Play isn't exactly a stepping stone to greatness, but it's a start

MARANA, Ariz. — Tiger Woods finally made a statement last week. So did Ian Poulter. Only his came on the golf course.

Poulter has long been considered a player with top-five-in-the-world potential but has never lived up to it. He has had a few close calls in big events, notably runnerup finishes to Padraig Harrington in the 2008 British Open and Henrik Stenson last year at the Players. Poulter showed that he's got toughness to back up his style (his wardrobes at the World Match Play have included purple plaid slacks and Sunday's all-pink outfit), including a pressure-packed star turn at the last Ryder Cup when he was a controversial captain's pick by Nick Faldo.

In the absence of Tiger, the golf media tends to be quick to anoint future stars. The latest would be Dustin Johnson, who defended his title at Pebble Beach earlier this month and now has three victories. Johnson is a power player loaded with potential, but it's premature to pencil him in as a Hall of Famer.

Regarding Poulter's rising stock, we're all tempted to quote the late Steve Allen's most famous song, "This Could Be the Start of Something Big." That's true after many players earn a win, usually followed by the cliche that the floodgates may now open for this player. Well, winning the Accenture World Match Play Championship hasn't exactly been a stepping stone to greatness.

Jeff Maggert won a thriller on an extra-hole chip-in in 1999. His next — and last — victory came seven years later. Steve Stricker won in 2001, then didn't win again until 2006.

Kevin Sutherland's victory in 2002 is the only one of his career. Darren Clarke's victory over Tiger Woods in 2000 is his only victory in the U.S. Henrik Stenson won in '07, then pretty much disappeared until winning last year's Players.

Geoff Ogilvy followed up his '06 Match Play Championship with the U.S. Open title, which admittedly was handed to him by Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie. Ogilvy won another Match Play last year, plus another World Golf Championships event at Doral and a pair of winners-only events to open the season in Hawaii — all limited-field events, curiously. He's done well, yes, but not reached the potential many believe he has.

Poulter is an eight-time winner in Europe who had never won on the PGA Tour until Sunday. Despite the impression you get from his humorous commercials, his light-hearted and frequent Twitter posts and his gaudy attire, he's seriously into himself and his golf. He admitted early in the week that he had already calculated where a victory at the Match Play would boost him in the World Rankings — to fifth. He was 11th when he arrived in Tucson.

Based on this tournament's history, and based upon the relevance of match play, no one should necessarily believe this will springboard Poulter to a new level. Another strong finish in a major, a clutch showing on the back nine in a major or, better yet, a win in a major, that would do it. But not a win in a tournament in which Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson didn't play and in which Poulter beat only six players, albeit one by one — no small feat.

That said, Poulter played perhaps the best golf of his career this week. His short game has never been better, and he putted brilliantly. With 27 birdies in his first five matches, Poulter may well have been winning this event even if it was stroke play. He was relentless in the final, too, making six birdies against Casey in the first 18 and five more in 16 holes in the afternoon en route to a 4-and-2 win.

The fact is, the timing has never been better for Poulter to finally emerge as a potential candidate for No. 2 in the world. He's 34, his game is better than ever, physically and mentally. He has come a long way from his teenaged years when he worked in a golf shop and watched golf on TV when, he admits, he probably should've been sweeping the floors.

If this is the start of something big for Poulter, the giant step came at Valahalla when he was the star of the European Ryder Cup team in the 2008 defeat.

Last summer he told The Times of London , "The Ryder Cup was career-defining and very emotional, having to prove I was worthy of a captain's pick. I was being lined up to be shot down, and it was a horribly nervy time. Nothing compares to that kind of pressure. Now I know, absolutely, that I can play well under immense pressure. I am so much stronger as a result. I thought I was mentally strong three years ago, but I am stronger now than ever, and my golf is more consistent as well."

There was no doubting him at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. He beat Justin Leonard, Adam Scott, Jeev Singh, Thongchai Jaidee and Sergio Garcia before building his lead to 4-up over Casey through 14 holes in the final. Casey was 2 down after 28 holes, but Poulter sealed his victory with a birdie at the 33rd and a par at the 34th.

On Saturday he talked about what a win would mean, that it would be an important check mark on his list of things to do — winning in America. He's already got his own clothing line and an expensive car collection. His recent acquisitions, he said, were a Ferrari California convertible and a Mercedes S63 AMG. He also has a Bentley, a Mercedes 330, an Aston Martin and a Ford GT, to name a few. He was asked what new wheels he'd purchase and he answered, "I don't want anything, actually."

A little respect would be enough. Or maybe a lot of respect. With this victory, Poulter has earned it.

Other highlights of The Week That Was at the World Match Play Championship:

Off-color Remark of the Week: We are not in a time warp, it only seems like it with the return of colored (I prefer "flavored") golf balls. South African Tim Clark began using the new Srixon Z-Star Tour Yellow ball. Its shade is somewhere between bright yellow and lime green. We used to call that optic yellow back in the '70s when only hackers used orange or yellow balls, which were mostly not the top-of-the-line models played by pros. The yellow balls are easier to see, no question about it, but Srixon is going to need some time for the buying public to get over that age-old stigma. It's still there because here's what Match Play Championship winner Ian Poulter Twittered: "I'm watching Tim Clark with that yellow ball. I used one of those when I was 7. It just doesn't look right, does it?"

Old Yeller Award: Clark, by the way, praised the yellow ball for being easier to see but joked, "It's not like I hit it long enough to not see a white ball."

Fastest Man Alive Cup: Take two helpings of irony and hand it to Ben Crane, whose reputation as slow player is known to all, including Crane. He brought it up himself when his opening opponent, Henrik Stenson, conceded their match on the first hole because he'd been suffering from the flu. "We got to the first hole and he said, 'Good-good, I'm going to conceded the match,'" Crane said. "Was that the quickest victory in match-play history? It would be hard to be faster." Laughing, he added, "Does it make any better sense that I should have the fastest victory?"

Savviest Veteran Ploy: Give that to Stenson. By halving the first hole by concession, then conceding the match, Stenson got credit for an official start, a tie for 33rd, official prize money and the accompanying number of World Ranking points. If he had simply withdrawn, the money would have been unofficial and he wouldn't have gotten credit for a Tour appearance. He didn't keep anyone else out of the tournament, either, since no alternates were on site.

Fastest Man Alive Cup Runnerup: One hole on Sunday morning was all it took to decide the semifinal match between Camilo Villegas and Paul Casey. Of course, they had played 23 holes the day before and had to stop because of darkness. When they resumed early on Sunday, Villegas pulled his opening tee shot left into the desert and disgustedly let go of his club on his follow-through, causing it to flip into some desert foliage. He knew it was trouble and, in fact, lost the hole and the match to Casey's par.

Best Desert Facsimile of 2002 British Open at Muirfield: This is Tucson, Ariz., where the winter weather is usually Chamber of Commerce stuff and the reason half of western Canada annually migrates here. Not on Saturday afternoon, when a storm front blew through with high winds, cold temperatures and numbing rain. Play was stopped for almost half an hour after Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter told officials that conditions had become "unplayable" at the fourth hole. "Probably the most miserable I've ever been on a golf course," said Casey.

Best Foreshadowing: Wisconsin resident Steve Stricker assumed the role as the tournament's No. 1 seed in the absence of Tiger Woods. His first-round opponent was the 64th-seeded Ross McGowan, a little-known Englishman who was in the field because of the absences of Woods and Phil Mickelson. "I'm sure he likes having me rather than Tiger," the self-effacing Stricker joked.

Finest Titanic Moment: Stricker became only the second top-seeded player to lose to No. 64 when McGowan scrambled for par on the 19th hole and Stricker couldn't get up and down for par from a buried lie in a greenside bunker. The only other No. 1 seed to fall was when Woods was upset by future trivia answer Peter O'Malley in the 2002 opening round.

Biggest Probable Letdown: Three days after he won at Pebble Beach, next-big-thing Dustin Johnson got off to the worst start of anyone in the field, conceding the first four holes to Villegas and eventually losing, 4 and 3.

Towelhead of the Week: The trophy goes to Clark, who saw a posse of TV cameras and media members waiting outside the clubhouse on Friday morning to get players' reactions to the statement made by Woods. Clark drew a few laughs when he draped a towel over his head as he walked past, indicating that he did not wish to comment.

Best Friday the 13th Sequel: Poulter wanted to go to sleep early on Friday since he expected Saturday to be a long day (and it was), so when a loud party continued into the night at the Ritz-Carlton, the players' posh hotel, Poulter called the front desk and asked to be moved to a different room. His request was accommodated. "As I was on my way there, I asked the porter what the room number was and the last two digits were 13," Poulter said. "I was questioning whether to go back in and put up with the noise. I'd been playing pretty good all week. I really didn't want to change my room. But I guess that's a lot of nonsense."

Rapids to host Sounders in “Charity Shield” MatchCasey advances to final against Poulter

Poulter routs Garcia to reach Match Play final

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Ian Poulter made short work of Sergio Garcia, then retreated to his room at the Ritz-Carlton and started posting on Twitter as he waited to find out who his opponent would be in the final of the Match Play Championship.

Paul Casey and Camilo Villegas are making him wait longer than he imagined.

They exchanged a series of great shots and clutch putts through 23 holes Saturday until twilight in the high desert made it too dark to continue. Casey and Villegas were to return Sunday morning to continue the longest match of the week at Dove Mountain.

"who is going to finish this match off, i want to get into a hot bath, come on guys someone hole a put please," said one of Poulter's tweet.

The hot bath couldn't wait. Before long, Poulter was getting a massage.

Poulter had finished nearly three hours earlier after equaling the shortest match of the tournament with a 7-and-6 victory.

The final stroke of a long day belonged to Villegas. The 28-year-old Colombian had a 3-foot par putt at No. 14 to win the match, but in shocking fashion, he pushed it badly to the right and gave Casey an unlikely reprieve.

"I should have made that putt," Villegas said.

Neither of them had gone the distance in any of their previous four matches. In the semifinals, they couldn't finish.

"laying on the massage table having some treatment getting ready for tomorrow, cant believe they are still out there," came another tweet from Poulter.

The match went overtime when Casey, who didn't take his first lead until the 15th hole, missed an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole. They gave each other 4-foot par putts on No. 10, and Villegas escaped trouble on the par-5 11th when he blasted out of a desert bush, hammered a fairway metal onto the green and halved the hole with par.

On the 22nd hole, No. 13, Villegas hit a tough bunker shot from 50 yards that stopped 2 feet from the hole for a conceded birdie, only for Casey to knock in a 6-foot birdie to extend the match.

They will resume the match at No. 10 in the morning.

"If I had to get up early, I wanted to be in the final. I didn't want to be continuing a semifinal," said Casey, who reached the championship match last year only to lose to Geoff Ogilvy. "One of us has to be in the final. And both of us want to be there."

It was only the second time in the 12-year history of this tournament that a semifinal match went into overtime. The other time was in 2004, when Davis Love III defeated Darren Clarke.

Casey is trying to give this World Golf Championship its first All-England final.

Earlier in the day, Casey built an early lead and defeated British Open champion Stewart Cink, 5 and 4. It was the fourth time in as many matches that Casey had closed out his opponent by that score.

Cink's loss meant no Americans reached the semifinals for the first time in tournament history.

The morning chill turned worse as gray clouds moved in, and rain began falling as the quarterfinals were ending. The rain came down so hard that play was halted for 10 minutes early in the semifinal matches.

The golf was as miserable as the weather.

Garcia took five shots to reach the first green before conceding the hole. Casey topped a tee shot so badly on the 209-yard third hole that it traveled barely 100 yards and didn't even reach the water hazard.

"It was just nice that rain did back off so we could actually play some sensible golf," Poulter said. "It certainly wasn't enjoyable. The golf would have been terrible to watch."

Poulter had a blast when the weather improved, winning four straight holes to build a big lead, then effectively closing out the match with four straight birdies.

Poulter won seven holes in an eight-hole stretch, but it was the one he lost - to a par by Garcia - that caused some consternation.

Garcia was 75 feet away for birdie on No. 7, while Poulter went over the green and into the desert, his ball stuck behind a bush. He asked for relief from a television tower and was denied. Poulter protested that he was capable of hitting through the bush and over the tower, a shot he would only consider in match play.

Calling in the chief referee, he won his appeal. But when he realized that his free drop would be in a thicker bush, he opted not to take relief, then played away from the tower. Poulter made bogey, forcing Garcia to nervously knock in a 6-footer for par.

After the match, Garcia was asked if he felt Poulter should have played the shot he intended when asking for relief.

"Well, probably," Garcia said. "That's what I would have done after trying to get relief. But he did what he thought was right, and he's the one who has to live with it, so he'll be fine."

That phrase - "he's the one who has to live with it" - can suggest that Poulter did something wrong.

Poulter said he wasn't put off and stood my his decision.

"It's my prerogative," he said. "Do I want to give Sergio the hole if it doesn't come off? I want to see him putt, and I've got every right to see him putt."

Poulter had a far more difficult time reaching the semifinals.

Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, the No. 48 seed, had never trailed in 59 holes until Poulter won the 17th hole with a par to go 1 up. Poulter won on the 18th when Thongchai's 15-foot birdie hung on the lip.

In the other quarterfinal matches, Garcia pulled away late over Oliver Wilson of England, 4 and 3; and Villegas built a 4-up lead at the turn and beat Retief Goosen, 4 and 3.

Rapids to host Sounders in “Charity Shield” MatchCasey advances to final against Poulter

Casey advances to final against Poulter

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — It's an all-England final in the first World Golf Championship of the year.

Paul Casey finally ended the longest match of the week with a par on the 24th hole Sunday morning to beat Camilo Villegas and advance to the final against Ian Poulter in the Match Play Championship.

Villegas hooked his tee shot into the desert and was lucky to find the ball, which was in a bush 4 inches off the ground. He blasted it out into the fairway and wound up making a bogey. Casey chipped to 5 feet and made the putt for par.

Casey then left straight for the first tee for the 36-hole championship match.

Casey and Villegas had exchanged a series of great shots and clutch putts through 23 holes Saturday until twilight made it too dark to continue.

Stricker stretches lead to 6 at RivieraRapids to host Sounders in “Charity Shield” Match

Dalai Lama says faith can bring Woods discipline

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Dalai Lama commented on Tiger Woods' sex scandals Saturday, saying self-discipline is among Buddhism's highest values, one day after Woods said he had strayed from his Buddhist faith.

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader told The Associated Press during a brief interview in his hotel suite in Beverly Hills that he had not heard of Woods, but when the circumstances were explained to him he said that when it comes to adultery, "all religions have the same idea."

"Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that's important," he said. "Self-discipline with awareness of consequences."

In his first public comments since the Nov. 27 car accident that set off a series of shocking allegations of rampant extramarital relationships, Woods said Friday that he was raised Buddhist but needed to focus anew on finding balance between his religion and professional life.

The Dalai Lama made the remarks while in the Los Angeles area to support Whole Child International, an organization that advocates better care for orphans worldwide.

Lampard puts faith in Lions’ experienceTiger’s mother ‘proud of my son’

Complete text of Tiger Woods statement

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Text of Tiger Woods' statement Friday, as transcribed by ASAP Sports:

Good morning, and thank you for joining me. Many of you in this room are my friends. Many of you in this room know me. Many of you have cheered for me or you've worked with me or you've supported me.

Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.

I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish. People want to know how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and to my children. And while I have always tried to be a private person, there are some things I want to say.

Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my behavior. As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time. We have a lot to discuss; however, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us.

I am also aware of the pain my behavior has caused to those of you in this room. I have let you down, and I have let down my fans. For many of you, especially my friends, my behavior has been a personal disappointment. To those of you who work for me, I have let you down personally and professionally. My behavior has caused considerable worry to my business partners.

To everyone involved in my foundation, including my staff, board of directors, sponsors, and most importantly, the young students we reach, our work is more important than ever. Thirteen years ago, my dad and I envisioned helping young people achieve their dreams through education. This work remains unchanged and will continue to grow. From the Learning Center students in Southern California to the Earl Woods scholars in Washington, D.C., millions of kids have changed their lives, and I am dedicated to making sure that continues.

But still, I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you. I have made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did. I am embarrassed that I have put you in this position.

For all that I have done, I am so sorry.

I have a lot to atone for, but there is one issue I really want to discuss. Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that. Elin never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage, ever. Elin has shown enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal. Elin deserves praise, not blame.

The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.

I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them.

I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me.

I've had a lot of time to think about what I've done. My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before. It's now up to me to make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I've made. It's up to me to start living a life of integrity.

I once heard, and I believe it's true, it's not what you achieve in life that matters; it's what you overcome. Achievements on the golf course are only part of setting an example. Character and decency are what really count.

Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to say to them that I am truly sorry.

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Tiger's mother 'proud of my son'

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods' mother sat in the front row, arms folded across her black sweater, eyes fixed on her world-famous son as he apologized again for letting so many people down with his infidelity.

Kultida Woods usually is seen, not heard.

She is the Thai woman with the wide-brimmed visor, leaning on a portable seat just beyond the ropes, now only at the Masters and his Chevron World Challenge. With rare exception, she does not give interviews.

Friday was different.

After Woods and all but a few of his 40 associates left the room, Mrs. Woods stayed in her seat.

"I would like to talk," she said as three wire service reporters approached.

It was her voice that was heard on the 911 tape the night of the Nov. 27 car accident that led to revelations of Woods' rampant affairs. "What happened?" she could be heard in the background as Woods was found on the street next to his SUV.

Mrs. Woods did not want to discuss details - "this thing is a family matter," she said - only to reveal she was upset. Mostly, however, she is angry at media outlets that stalked her in airports and the relentless coverage of Woods' downfall.

"Some of media, especially tabloid, hurt my son bad," said Mrs. Woods, who moved to America some 40 years ago and speaks haltingly. "Sometimes think there double standard. He didn't do anything illegal. He didn't kill anybody. But he try to improve himself. He try to go to therapy and help. He change that and making better.

"When he go do all this thing, he will come out stronger and better person."

Mrs. Woods was flanked on both sides by women - Amy Reynolds, formerly of Nike who now works at Tiger Woods Design, and Kathy Battaglia, the administrative assistant for the ETW Corp.

Woods walked directly to his mother when he finished his 13 1/2-minute statement. After they embraced, she placed her hands on his shoulders to speak to him. She said she whispered in his ear, "I'm so proud of you. Never think you stand alone. Mom will always be there for you, and I love you."

Along with Woods' apology - to his family, friends, business partners, foundation, parents of kids who saw him as a role model - his mother was pleased to hear him say he would return to his Buddhist faith.

"Since he was young, always Buddhism," Mrs. Woods said. "Buddhist teach go inside deep to soul and correct bad thing to be a good thing. He got back to practice Buddhism again, that make him much better person."

She said his recovery from his extramarital affairs, and his eventual return to golf, would be the toughest road Woods ever faced.

"And he admit that," she said. "I told him, 'Good thing you learn from this.' I never condemn my son. That's the way you go through life. When make a mistake, admit. We not god. He never claimed he was god. If somebody condemn him, look at themselves first.

"You don't know how difficult it is to be Tiger," she said. "Not many people want to be. Not easy to be him. Just like somebody go to work 8 to 5 and go home to have a life with family. Tiger can't do that."

She then became animated discussing how long he has been in the news.

"If not Tiger, don't think come this far," she said of the media coverage. "February, every day, not have helicopters all over the place."

Woods has become the public face of golf, and richly rewarded. He is believed to be the first athlete to earn over $1 billion in earnings and endorsements. When it was mentioned to Mrs. Woods that with fame and fortune comes public interest, she said he was only human and should be allowed to learn from his mistakes.

"I am so proud to be his mother, period," she said.

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Top seeds, defending champion lose in Match Play

MARANA, Ariz. — This year, more than ever with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson missing, there is no such thing as an upset in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

There are mild surprises and eyebrow-raisers but no true upsets. That said, the last of the top four seeded players were eliminated in Thursday's second round. Nick Watney threw two late birdies to knock out England's Lee Westwood, 2 and 1; South Africa's Charl Schwartzel used six birdies to defeat Jim Furyk, 3 and 2; and giant-killer Tim Clark, who stunned Woods a year ago, beat Germany's Martin Kaymer, 3 and 2. Top-seeded Steve Stricker lost in Wednesday's opening round.

The Match Play is clearly wide open. Based on the seedings within the four 16-man brackets, Paul Casey of England is the only remaining No. 2 seed still alive in any bracket.

Even defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, a two-time winner of this event, was ousted by Camilo Villegas, 2 and 1. Ogilvy, who had an 18-2 record in the Match Play, couldn't keep up with a hot finish by Villegas. At the par-5 13th, Villegas hit a 5-iron shot that landed hard and ran across the green, hit the flagstick and kicked two feet away for a conceded eagle. At the short par-4 15th, Villegas drove the green and two-putted for birdie to take a 1-up lead. At the par-3 16th, Villegas holed his birdie putt and watched Ogilvy miss, giving him a 2-up cushion.

"Geoff is a great player, obviously has a great record in this tournament and he beat me last year," said Villegas, a native of Colombia. "Funny enough, we players don't forget those things. So last night I went to bed and said, 'Geoff beat me last year. I think it's my turn.'"

Ben Crane, who got the equivalent of a free pass in the opening round when Henrik Stenson conceded the match on the first hole due to illness, advanced to the sweet 16 with a 3-and-2 victory over PGA champ Y.E. Yang. Crane figured that was some kind of record.

"Henrik hinted about five minutes before our tee time yesterday that he was going to play the first hole," Crane said. "We got there and he said, good — good, I concede the match. Was that the quickest victory in match play history? Does it make any better sense that I should have the fastest victory?"

Crane laughed, an acknowledgment of his reputation on the PGA Tour for slow play. He played on to get another look at the course and had some fun with the gallery. On the second hole, his birdie putt lipped out. Said Crane, "The crowd goes, 'Oh!' And I go, 'It's OK, I still won the hole.' "

The field still has some name players. Sergio Garcia outlasted Anders Hansen, 2 and 1; British Open champion Stewart Cink edged Sean O'Hair, 1 up; last year's runner-up Paul Casey trounced Mike Weir, 5 and 4; Luke Donald rolled over Robert Allenby, 6 and 5; and Ian Poulter played the back side three under par to pull away from Adam Scott, 2 and 1.

Some other well-known names also went home. Former Masters champ Zach Johnson lost to Brian Gay, Rory McIlroy went 20 holes before losing to Oliver Wilson, and former Ryder Cupper Robert Karlsson was routed by Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, 4 and 3.

Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, both from South Africa, played a hard-fought match. Goosen birdied the 16th and 17th holes to go 1 up, then watched Els run in a 10-footer for birdie at the 18th to force extra holes. Els did it again at the first extra hole, holing a 12-footer to save a halve.

Goosen put a thrilling cap on the day by stiffing an iron shot to four feet for eagle on the 20th hole. Els conceded the hole after he hit his third shot into a greenside bunker, then blasted long.

Watney, Cink and Gay are the only remaining American players.

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Tour getting ready for Tiger show

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods' first public appearance in three months already is shaping up as a national event.

Tight security restricted access on the road that leads to the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, where Woods is to speak at 11 a.m. EST Friday for the first time since his Nov. 27 accident that set off sordid revelations of infidelity.

Networks reworked their programming and, by late Thursday afternoon, seven satellite trucks had already parked outside the Sawgrass Marriott. The parking lot last saw this kind of activity five years ago - for media day at the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.

All because Woods - surely one of the world's most-recognized athletes - is about to re-emerge and say something in person regarding his future and his past.

The public hasn't had a clean look at Woods' face since photos Wednesday of him jogging in his neighborhood outside Orlando.

Far more compelling will be the sound of his voice. Woods has not been heard in the 78 days since a magazine released a voicemail he allegedly left one of the women to whom he has been romantically linked, warning that Woods' wife might be calling.

Instead of going on "Oprah" or another national television show to break the ice, Woods essentially will be speaking to the lone camera allowed in the room. It will be televised via satellite.

Three networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - will carry the statement live. ESPN will have it live on all its platforms, including Internet streaming, radio and mobile. It also will be piped over YouTube, the Web's most popular video channel. Golf Channel will start coverage at 10:30 a.m. - call it a 30-minute pregame show.

Almost as intriguing is which "friends, colleagues and close associates" will be in the Sunset Room on the second floor of the Mediterranean-style clubhouse at the TPC Sawgrass.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who made the clubhouse available and is offering logistical help, has said he would attend, and as many as four other members of his executive staff will be in the room.

Everyone else will congregate at the Sawgrass Marriott to watch on short circuit. The adjacent ballrooms looked ready to hold a Super Bowl party, with flat-screen TVs along the walls and a large video screen in the center of the room.

A British bookmaker has set odds at 4-to-7 that Woods' wife, Elin, will be with him. William Hill didn't stop there, however. It offers 8-to-1 odds that Woods will announce he is getting a divorce, 12-to-1 odds that his wife is pregnant and 100-to-1 odds that he is retiring.

"While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between he and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him," his agent, Mark Steinberg, said in an e-mail Wednesday. "He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends and that's what he's going to discuss."

Steinberg invited three reporters from wire services - The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg - and he turned to the Golf Writers Association of America to come up with a pool of three reporters. However, the GWAA board of directors voted overwhelming Thursday not to participate, turning down a negotiated offer to increase the number of pool reporters to six.

"I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods," said Vartan Kupelian, president of the 950-member group. "The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe."

The GWAA said it believes strongly that its presence, without the ability to ask question, gives credibility to an event that isn't worthy of it. Nineteen board members voted for the proposal to protest by boycotting the proceedings. There were four votes against the proposal and three abstentions.

Woods has always been about control, even in better times. He refused to go into the media center before a PGA Tour event if he was not the defending champion. If he agreed to a 10-minute interview to pitch a product he endorses, it was common for a company employee to be in the room making sure it didn't go one second beyond that.

But having not heard from Woods - except for three statements on his Web site - in three months, this event has taken on a life of its own.

Conversation raged online, as many took glee in speculating on what Woods will say Friday.

One of the most popular threads on Twitter carried the tag "tigershouldsay." Suggestions were predominantly sarcastic, such as: "At least I didn't use steroids."

The PGA Tour will have two tournaments in progress Friday, including the third round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, the first title sponsor to drop Woods during this sex scandal. Some players did not think it was a coincidence.

Most of them, however, will be just like everyone else - curious what Woods has to say, and how he says it.

"It has to be held at some stage," Padraig Harrington said. "The sooner he makes a statement, the better. And the sooner he's back to playing golf - he's pretty good at playing golf - the better."

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AP Television Writer Frazier Moore and AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.

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Wilson set for Mayakoba title defense

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Mark Wilson is in basically the same position he was a year ago at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Once again left out of the 64-man Match Play Championship, Wilson is trying to break out of an early season funk at Mayakoba Resort's El Camaleon course.

Last year he ended up doing far more than just find his game, beating J.J. Henry by two strokes for his second PGA Tour title.

Wilson shot 66-64-69-68 on the Greg Norman-designed course.

"I came in not feeling great about my game. Didn't start the year off great," Wilson said Wednesday. "But something clicked with both my playing and ball-striking kind of that first and into the second round. It kind of snowballed on me, and I just kind of kept the momentum going all weekend."

This season, Wilson has made four of five cuts, with his best finish a tie for 20th at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"Similar to last year, really," Wilson said. "I haven't really played near to my potential that I would like it. Par for the course for me usually with the long offseason up there in Chicago and not playing much. So I'm just kind of playing my way into the season."

Wilson praised the course conditions after his pro-am round.

"It's as good as ever," Wilson said. "The course doesn't seem is to change too much from what I've seen."

David Duval, coming off a second-place tie at Pebble Beach, also is in the field along with K.J. Choi, John Daly, Stuart Appleby, Heath Slocum, Mark Calcavecchia and Mexican stars Esteban Toledo and Jose Trauwitz.

DIVOTS: Erik Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, is making his first start of the year. ... Mayakoba is 35 miles south of Cancun on the Caribbean coast.

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WGC-Accenture Match Play marks first global gathering of the year

Golf at the highest level has become such a global game it's tougher than ever to pinpoint the best professional tour, the most fertile country for world-class players, the most impressive young talent, or even, in the absence of Tiger Woods, the top player.

With Woods out indefinitely, the game is a land grab contested by old reliables like Kenny Perry, 49, Steve Stricker, 42, and Vijay Singh, 46; global stars like Padraig Harrington and Geoff Ogilvy; and several would-be No. 1s including (but not limited to) Ryo Ishikawa, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy and Michael Sim.

No tournament better exemplifies the game's current state than the frenzied free-for-all that is the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at 7,849-yard Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Ariz., starting Wednesday. "There are no easy draws in this event," said Lee Westwood, the second seed this week, who will play countryman Chris Wood in the first round. "[These are the] top players in the world. So everybody's quite capable of shooting a 63 or 62 out there."

The Accenture will mark the first truly global gathering of the year, a season in which one of the biggest stories has been the shift in the balance of power between the U.S. and Europe. While fields on the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing have been largely unremarkable and at times dismal, the European Tour has flourished. That's only partly because of American players traveling overseas for appearance fees. More importantly it owes to a new look atop the World Ranking that's been years in the making. Of the top 20 players in the ranking, only six are Americans, and two (Woods and the vacationing Phil Mickelson) are not in the field this week.

Nine years after he won the tournament as the 55 seed, Stricker takes the top seed into the Accenture, but the prohibitive favorite is Ogilvy, a two-time Accenture winner and three-time finalist who has racked up an incredible 17-2 career record in this event.

Then again, perhaps the favorite is England's Ross Fisher, who advanced to the tournament's final four last season and later won the Volvo World Match Play.

The favorite certainly wouldn't seem to be Westwood, who has never advanced past the second round in nine Accenture starts, many of his losses coming in extra holes. Unlike those years, though, he is coming into this week on a good note, having won the Race to Dubai to end 2009 and notched two top-three finishes in his last two starts.

When Westwood left home Sunday, and his 5-year-old daughter Poppy asked him when he would return, he wasn't sure what to tell her and her older brother Samuel. "I said, 'Historically, Thursday; optimistically, Monday,' " he said at his press conference at Dove Mountain, prompting laughter. "They looked at me quizzically."

Theories on match play run the gamut. Do you play the man or the course? Is gamesmanship important, and how is it best and most subtly deployed?

Johnson, coming off his victory at Pebble Beach, said on Tuesday that he didn't know and didn't much care who he's playing beyond Camilo Villegas in the first round. The assembled media were incredulous; hadn't he bothered to look at a bracket? "If one is sitting next to me at breakfast, of course I'll look at it," Johnson said. "But I'm not going to go out of my way to find the bracket to see who is in it. Everyone here is good. They don't make it here because of a fluke. So it really doesn't matter who you're playing, it's going to be a tough match and you're going to have to play well."

The winner of the Johnson-Villegas match will play either Alexander Noren of Sweden or the one guy everyone would just as soon avoid in Tucson: Ogilvy. That said, it's conceivable that Ogilvy hasn't been getting much quality sleep or practice time. His wife Juli delivered the couple's third child, Harvey Jack Ogilvy, last Thursday.

Most intriguing at the Accenture are the rookies, who will show soon enough what they think of the quirky format. Ishikawa and Sim play each other for the right to face Stricker or Ross McGowan in the second round. Ryan Moore, a match-play terror as an amateur, will face Ernie Els, a match-play terror in Wentworth, England.

As always in this format, someone will shoot 66 and lose, and someone will card a 73 and win. "I think you need more luck in match play than in stroke play," Westwood said. "You can't ease your way around-you have to come out all guns blazing."

• In other action on the PGA Tour, David Duval tries to maintain momentum from last week's runner-up finish at the Mayakoba Classic in Cancun, Mexico, golf's version of the NIT. The Mayakoba, played at one of the sweetest spots if not the sweetest spot on the Tour schedule, is famous for reviving careers, most notably that of 2008 champion Brian Gay, who went on to win twice on Tour in 2009 and is in the field for this week's Accenture.

• Speaking of coming out with guns blazing, the LPGA Tour kicks off at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand this week. Number one-ranked Lorena Ochoa, the defending champion, headlines a strong field that also includes No. 2 Jiyai Shin, Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Christina Kim. The Honda PTT will mark the beginning of the LPGA's new agreement with the Golf Channel, which will give the circuit a much-needed permanent home.

• On the Champions Tour, Tommy Armour III will try to stay hot at the Allianz Championship, starting Friday at The Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, Fla. Armour shot a final-round 61 to finish runner-up in his Champions debut at the ACE Group Classic last week. Michael Allen, who tied for fifth place at the PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open last month, and Bernhard Langer are also in the field.

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