Associated Press
Wednesday, January 3

MELBOURNE, Australia -- It turned out to be an easy day for Ernie Els, and anything but that for Hal Sutton in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

	Glen Day upset Presidents Cup hero Kirk Triplett in the first round.

Els, the top seed and a late arrival, showed up at Metropolitan Golf Club at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday for his first practice round -- two hours before the first round began. When it counted, he whipped Greg Kraft, 4 and 2.

Sutton never saw Metropolitan, either, but only because of a lower back injury that nearly forced him to withdraw. Hoss saddled it up, though, and turned it a courageous effort.

Four-down with six holes to play, clutching his back after every shot, he forced extra holes before Nick O'Hern of Australia finally won on the 21st hole.

"I'm not a quitter," Sutton said. "That's not my style."

So ended an entertaining opening round of the $5 million World Golf Championship, which was missing Tiger Woods and a slew of other top players, but not the excitement that a match-play format brings.

In all, six matches required extra holes.

Of the 34 Americans in the field, only a dozen survived the first round and face a long trip back across Pacific.

The greatest casualty was Sutton, and there were few complaints. A tear in the soft tissue in his lower back left him in tremendous pain. He had four small bruises from where therapists had dug their fingers into his back for a deep massage.

But he gutted it out, and with some help from O'Hern, won four of the final six holes to force a playoff. Sutton had a 15-foot birdie putt to win on the 20th, but it turned away. His 8-iron into the third hole was pulled left -- a move Sutton fought all day -- and into a bunker, where he failed to get up and down for par.

"I'm almost glad it's over," he said. "I don't think I could play another hole."

The other match to go 21 holes went to Craig Parry, who holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th and beat Dennis Paulson when the American missed a 10-footer for par on the third extra hole.

But no one played as many holes as Els.

He finally dragged himself away from his beach house in South Africa, arriving in Australia at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, just 18 hours before his match.

Els came to the course seven hours before his tee time and squeezed in 16 holes of practice. That's allowed in match play, since players are not competing against the field but a single opponent.

"I shouldn't have any problems sleeping tonight," Els said.

Vijay Singh, the No. 3 seed, easily dispatched of Kevin Sutherland, ending their match on the 16th hole. Fourth-seeded Tom Lehman had to work against Australian Greg Chalmers before finally closing him out, 2 and 1.

There were no substantial upsets, because most of the biggest names didn't bother to make the trip -- Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, and even Europe's best three players.

It was quite a show without them.

Jean Van de Velde resurrected memories of Carnoustie, where he took triple-bogey on the final hole to blow the British Open. He was 4-up on Duffy Waldorf with six holes to play, then watched the lead disappear.

Van de Velde had to make a 15-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win.

Waldorf, Sutton, Stewart Cink, John Huston and 28 other first-round losers faced a long flight home, the penalty for losing on the first day of match play, at a tournament halfway around the world.

For others, it was a big sigh of relief.

Justin Leonard left nothing to chance, winning five straight holes against Patrik Sjoland in a 6 and 5 victory. He warmed up in December by playing his father in practice matches.

"It's a big difference beating my dad at home and coming here and winning," Leonard said. "My dad is a great player, but he's not Patrik Sjoland."

Steve Stricker didn't play his dad, or anyone else. His last tournament was the Canadian Open, which was played the second week of the NFL season. He was shaky off the tee, but a menace with his irons and putter and came away with a strong 2 and 1 victory over Ryder Cup player Padraig Harrington.

The match turned on the 11th hole, when Stricker ran a 35-foot birdie putt about 10 feet by the hole but made the putt coming back to stay 1-up. On the par-5 12th, his 4-wood landed on the front of the green, but his 60-foot eagle putt was 25 feet short. He holed that one, too, then made 3-foot birdies on the next two holes.

Stricker is ranked No. 90 in the world, but was among 40 players ranked outside the top 64 who got in when a host of top stars bailed out.

He wasn't the only one who made the most of his opportunity.

Ten players ranked outside the top 64 advanced to the second round, a guarantee of at least $50,000 and still in the hunt for $1 million.