Woods wins first match back from injury at WGC Match Play

Tiger Woods made a triumphant return from injury Wednesday, defeating Australian Brendan Jones 3 and 2 in the first round of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

Woods was playing his first tournament since his US Open triumph last June. Eight days after that victory, the 14-time major champion had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

"I'm very pleased at how it felt all day," Woods said. "I thought that it would be more stiff on 15 tee, when I had to hit my shot after that long wait. But I felt fine. It held up well."

The US superstar set golf fans salivating when he announced last Thursday that he would return to defend his title here.

Woods was quick out of the blocks, making a birdie at the first hole and taking a 2-up lead at the second, where he hit his approach within four feet and Jones conceded.

It was just the kind of start Woods had said he needed to shake the rust off his game.

"I thought it would take me a little bit longer to get into the rhythm of the round and try and find it," Woods admitted.

"It just came down to playing the game again, and that felt good."

Woods's lead dwindled when he bogeyed the par-four seventh as Jones made par.

But he responded with a seven-foot birdie at the next hole.

Woods extended his advantage to 3-up at the par-three 12th, where Jones fired his tee shot over the green into the back rough. Woods had found the fringe but chipped to within three feet.

Woods then eagled the par-five 13th, where he holed a long putt from the fringe to top Jones's birdie and take a 4-up lead

Jones showed he wasn't finished yet with an eagle at 15 that narrowed the gap by one. But when Woods saved par from a bunker to halve the 16th it was all over.

Woods was joined at the top of the draw by Spain's Sergio Garcia, Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Fiji's Vijay Singh.

Singh advanced safely with a 2 and 1 victory over Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, but Garcia and Harrington were less fortunate.

South Africa's Charl Schwartzel shocked Garcia 1-up, while American Pat Perez defeated Harrington 1-up.

Harrington, winner of the British Open and PGA Championship last year with Woods on the sidelines, had a chance to extend the match, but missed a 10-foot birdie putt at 18. However, he said the turning point was much sooner.

"I lost it on the fifth hole," Harrington said. "I missed a putt there and made a terrible five from the middle of the fairway when he was in trouble. To go bogey-bogey there and let him go 1-up when I could have been 1-up ... When I look back everything after that was a bit of a struggle."

Phil Mickelson, drawn in Singh's quarter, survived a tricky encounter with 2007 US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina.

Mickelson, fresh from defending his US PGA Tour title in Los Angeles on Sunday, was 4-up through 13 holes but lost the next four in a row.

Cabrera won the last three of those with birdies before they halved the 18th, where Cabrera sank a 10-footer for par to extend the match.

Mickelson finally captured the match with a birdie at the 19th hole.

"The back nine he sure hit a lot of good golf shots and won four holes in a row there in the end," Mickelson said. "I was fortunate to win in sudden death, but I'll gladly take it."

European sensation Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland made it safely through, beating South African Louis Oosthuizen 2 and 1 to remain on course for a possible third-round clash with Woods.

Woods next faces Tim Clark, who posted a 3-and-2 victory over fellow South African Retief Goosen, a two-time US Open champion.

Other first-round winners included Stewart Cink, who needed 19 holes to beat South African Richard Sterne.

Cink, who lost to Woods in the final last year, next faces England's Lee Westwood, who downed Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng 2 and 1.

American Anthony Kim and Colombian Camilo Villegas posted emphatic victories, Kim beating Taiwan's Lin Wen-Tang 7 and 5 and Villegas beating Australian Rod Pampling 7 and 6.

Kim finished off Lin, who had seven bogeys on the day, with his third birdie of the day at the par-five 13th.

Kim will next face England's Oliver Wilson, who beat experienced South Korean KJ Choi 3 and 1.

Australian Mathew Goggin notched an upset over another US Ryder Cup hero, downing Kenny Perry 2 and 1.