Putt puts Woods out of Match Play

Three-time champion Tiger Woods crashed out of the Match Play Championship after missing a 1.5m birdie putt and losing to Nick Watney 1-up in their second-round match. \"The old adage is to expect your opponent to make it,\" Watney said. \"And when it\'s Tiger Woods, you really expect him to make it.\" In what is becoming a troubling trend for Woods, he missed the birdie putt so badly that it never even touched the hole. It was the third straight time that Woods failed to get out of the second round. \"I didn\'t miss a single shot coming in, which is good. And that was fun, to hit the ball that well,\" Woods said. \"Unfortunately, I just didn\'t make a putt when I needed it.\" Woods missed three putts inside 3m over the last six holes, none more important than the last one. Two weeks ago at Pebble Beach Woods closed with a 75, 11 shots worse than playing partner Phil Mickelson. He also struggled to make putts in Abu Dhabi, when he failed to win despite being tied for the 54-hole lead with Robert Rock. \"I\'m very happy to move on. I feel a bit fortunate, as well,\" Watney said. \"We don\'t see him miss putts like that very often.\" Watney next plays Lee Westwood, the former world No 1 whom Watney has beaten at Dove Mountain each of the past two years. Westwood had no trouble against Robert Karlsson of Sweden, advancing to the third round for the first time in 12 tries at this fickle event. England has won this World Golf Championship the last two years. Luke Donald and Ian Poulter and Westwood is its last hope to make it three in a row. The surprise was that Scotland had two players remaining, former British Open champion Paul Lawrie took down Ryo Ishikawa, and Martin Laird defeated Matteo Manassero. Lawrie and Laird face each other in the third round. In other matches : US Open champion Rory McIlroy, the No 2 seed, made only three birdies but won two straight holes with par to put away Anders Hansen and advance to the third round. He plays Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 48-year-old Spaniard who beat PGA champion Keegan Bradley. Dustin Johnson blasted Francesco Molinari early and rolled to a 7-and-5 win. Johnson has played two medium-length players in Jim Furyk and Molinari and next up is Mark Wilson, who breezed to a win over Robert Rock of England. Steve Stricker celebrated his 45th birthday in style. Two down on the back nine, he rallied to catch Louis Oosthuizen, then won the match with a 7m birdie putt on the 18th hole that had so much break even Stricker wasn\'t sure he could make it. He will play Hunter Mahan, who never trailed in beating Y.E. Yang. Ernie Els, one day after becoming the third No 64 seed to win, lost, 5 and 4, to Peter Hanson of Sweden. Seven Americans, seven Europeans, an Asian and an Australian (John Senden) represent the 16 players left. Watney fully expected to be among them. He admitted peeking at the brackets, and he knew he had a chance to play Woods in the second round. Even as Woods was struggling to get through the opening round, Watney said he wanted to play him because of his stature with 14 major championships. \"I really like Gonzo,\" he said of Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, whom Woods beat in 18 holes in the first round. \"But I wanted to play Tiger. \"This is why we play. I could beat him in the second round at Riviera, but then we have two more rounds. To go head-to-head and wind up on top, this is something I\'ll remember.\" Woods took his only lead when Watney three-putted for bogey on the fourth hole, and Watney squared the match at No 7 when Woods missed a 1.5m par putt, a sign of things to come. The back nine again gave Woods fits. He hit into a bunker and the desert, having to play a left-handed shot for the second straight day, conceding the 10th hole with a double bogey. Watney went 2-up with a 5.4m birdie on the 12th. Then, it was a matter of hanging on.