Donald Upset in Opening Round of Match Play Championship

Luke Donald made the most ignominious exit in the opening round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The $8.5 million tournament began Wednesday, with the best 64 players in the world, at Ritz-Carlton GC, Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz.

Donald, the defending champion and No. 1-ranked and top-seeded player in the event, lost 5 and 4 to Ernie Els, the 64th seed. Els, a three-time major champion, went 1-up on the third hole and kept that margin before Donald birdied the par-4 seventh to bring the match to all-square.

But on the par-5 eighth, the Big Easy carded a birdie and a par on the next to gain a 2-up advantage on Donald, who won the money list titles on both the PGA and European tours in 2011. Donald bogeyed the par-5 11th and par-3 12th to fall 4-down. After matching birdies on the par-5 13th, Els closed out the match with a birdie on the par-4 14th.

Donald sounded flabbergasted afterward. "I'm not sure where to start," he said. "I just didn't play very well. It's disappointing. I've been working really hard. To lose control of the golf ball like I did today is really frustrating, but I believe the hard work will start paying off soon . . . Not sure what happened really. Hopefully it was just one of those bad days. Yeah, one of those days."

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was Els, who was ecstatic and, oddly, felt he had a bit of an edge over his opponent before the match started. "I'm sure he didn't want to play me," Els said. "Obviously I can play a little bit of golf. So I'm sure he didn't really want to face me. And I was just glad to be in the event.

"So if I was going to play Luke or Rory (McIlroy) or (Lee) Westwood, I knew I had to be on my game. So it was a bit of a situation coming into this week. Last week wasn't great, but Monday and Tuesday I could practice and felt comfortable."

Here's how the rest of the first-day brackets turned out.

Bobby Jones Bracket

Els will play Sweden's Peter Hanson, who beat American Jason Dufner 2 and 1. In the other bouts in this bracket, Kyle Stanley edged K.J. Choi 2 and 1. The 24-year-old Stanley, who won his first PGA Tour title in early February in the Phoenix Open, carded five birdies Wednesday, including three straight on Nos. 15-17 to close out the match.

Interestingly, the Gig Harbor, Wash., native will face Brandt Snedeker who, the week before Stanley won in Phoenix, beat the former Clemson All-American in the Farmers Insurance Open. Snedeker managed to squeak by Retief Goosen of South Africa in 21 holes. The Nashville native won with a par three on the third overtime hole.

Robert Rock beat Jones bracket's No. 2 seed Adam Scott of Australia 1-up. The Englishman will face American Mark Wilson, who edged fellow Yank Bo Van Pelt 3 and 2.

Rock understands the difference between a match-play and stroke-play tournament. "You've got to somehow still recognize that you're playing against somebody else, rather than get depressed on how you play, like you would do in a stroke-play tournament," the 34-year-old said.

"I had to put myself in a position to try to put some pressure on Adam. Adam hit probably a lot better shots than I did. But I managed to sneak a couple of holes where he was probably in better position around the edges of the greens and he didn't get up and down on occasions. And I managed to pull a few holes back like that sometimes."

Wilson had a simple plan coming into the week. "It was definitely just keeping the ball in play, giving myself a lot of chances," the Illinois native noted. "It really does feel like you're coming down the stretch in a tournament. It's good to get this one past me and be a little more comfortable tomorrow."

The final matches in the Jones bracket involved Dustin Johnson beating Jim Furyk on the 20th hole; he'll face Italy's Francesco Molinari, who also had to go 20 holes to get past Denmark's Thomas Bjorn.

Johnson is hoping for a steadier performance Thursday. "It was an up-and-down day," said the lanky South Carolinian. "I gave a lot of holes away, especially early. And then (I) started playing a little better on the front side.

"Jim pitched in on 13 and I pitched in right after to win the hole. So then I chipped in again. He hit it close on 16 and I chipped in and he missed. So it was kind of a crazy match. I'm happy to get my first victory here at the Accenture Match Play Championship."

Molinari won with a birdie on the last after he chipped in from off the green. "Probably 50 feet, something like that," he said about the distance of the winning stroke. "I missed the green right but it was a good second shot. You don't want to miss it left. I had the nice uphill way to the hole and then obviously a bit of luck to hole it."

Ben Hogan Bracket

Martin Kaymer didn't meet the same fate as Donald as the No. 1 seed in the Ben Hogan bracket. The German vanquished 16th-seeded Greg Chalmers of Australia 4 and 2 and will face American David Toms, who edged California native Rickie Fowler 1-up.

No. 4 seed Matt Kuchar had a tough match against fellow American Jonathan Byrd, finally beating the South Carolinian with a birdie on the par-4 closing hole for a 1-up victory. Kuchar will face Bubba Watson, who advanced with a 3-and-2 win over Oregon's Ben Crane.

Watson and Crane are good friends and they were together on the eve of the tournament. "Last night we were at Bible study together. We have a Wednesday night - Tuesday night Bible study this week because of the tournament," said Watson, a native of Bagdad, Fla. "There was about seven of us there. Ben was there; I was there. So we were just joking around about how much fun it was going to be to play each other. Neither one of us want to lose, obviously. You are here to win.

"Even it's your buddy or what, you still want to win," Watson added. "It's hard playing with your buddy like that sometimes. Overall, I hit the ball so good today. I was really happy with how I was striking it. I didn't miss a shot today. So I just played good and he just missed a couple of putts. Just one of those things."

Steve Stricker got past Kevin Na 2 and 1 and will face Louis Oosthuizen in the round of 32 after Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, beat Aussie Aaron Baddeley 2 and 1. The Oosthuizen-Baddeley match was a back-and-forth affair until the 11th hole, at which point the two players tied the next three holes. The South African got the lead on the 15th hole and didn't relinquish it.

"It was a bit shaky during the middle of the round," Oosthuizen said. "I gave a few holes to him with bad iron shots, but I hung in there. And I always knew it was going to be a tough match against him and luckily today I putted really well and the greens were running really nice. You know, it's it could have gone either way."

At the bottom of the Hogan bracket, Y.E. Yang upset No. 3 seed Graeme McDowell 2 and 1. The South Korean native and 2009 PGA champion will face Hunter Mahan, who needed 19 holes to beat fellow American Zach Johnson. Though he wasn't exactly satisfied with his round, Mahan managed to sneak by the steady Iowa native and winner of the 2007 Masters.

"It was not the most technically played match ever," Mahan said later after Johnson conceded the match on the first overtime hole. "Kind of struggled to hit some shots. The course is playing difficult. It's hard to get close to the greens. We both grinded it out pretty well. Made a lot of good chips and made some putts. In the end it just came down to one missed shot for Zach. Just the wrong place, really. It wasn't a terrible shot, it was just the wrong place and in desert golf, one bad hit - it was an unfortunate ending to a pretty good match."

Gary Player Bracket

Rory McIlroy, the overall No. 2 seed and the bracket's top seed, found things difficult at the end of his match with George Coetzee of South Africa. The Northern Irishman and reigning U.S. Open champion enjoyed a 3-up lead through 15 holes, but lost the next two holes with bogeys. But Coetzee conceded on the 18th hole to give McIlroy a 1-up victory.

McIlroy will next oppose Denmark's Anders Hansen, who beat South Korean K.T. Kim 5 and 3.

Two Spaniards went at it on Wednesday, with the 13th-seeded veteran beating the younger player. Miguel Angel Jimenez, 48, beat fourth-seeded and 32-year-old Sergio Garcia 2 and 1 when Garcia bogeyed the par-4 17th. Jimenez will face 2011 PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who rolled over Aussie Geoff Ogilvy 4 and 3.

Bradley was happy with how things went. "I played about as good as I could play," said the Vermont native. "I didn't miss a fairway or a green. I saw a lot of birdies and that's always tough to beat."

Jason Day will go against fellow Aussie John Senden in the round of 32. Day edged Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello in 19 holes, while Senden beat England's Simon Dyson 4 and 3.

After Dyson bogeyed the first hole, Senden was never behind the rest of the match. "I got off to a good start, I guess," said the 41-year-old from Brisbane. "I had an easy hole on the first, where unfortunately Simon went on the right side there and it was a bit of a giveaway, and then I eagled the second hole. So kind of 2-up after two and that kind of felt pretty good.

"From there, I just kept the pressure on all day. I felt like I was in control of my game and felt like, you know, I wasn't letting him up much at all. If he made a good shot, I put it straight in there on him and got a couple of good saves that helped me along the way."

Reigning Masters' champion Charl Schwartzel beat American Gary Woodland 4 and 2, and he'll face South Korea's Song-moon Bae, who got past sixth-seeded and 2010 Match Play champion Ian Poulter 4 and 3.

Schwartzel was satisfied with how he executed Wednesday. "I played really solid," said the 27-year-old South African. "I didn't make any mistakes at all. Gary unfortunately hit a few bad shots at - he gave me the holes. But I just - I think I kept applying pressure. I hardly missed a golf shot. It was just a good solid round of golf."

Sam Snead Bracket

No. 1-seeded Lee Westwood won his first match 3 and 1 over Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium. The 38-year-old Englishman will face Robert Karlsson, who romped past fellow Swede Fredrik Jacobson 6 and 5.

Westwood and Colsaerts both played good golf in their opening match. "I played really well," Westwood said. "I didn't give a hole away, didn't make a bogey. I made six birdies. We had a good match. It was a good, honest, solid match. We both played well."

Nick Watney had an easy day, beating reigning British Open champion Darren Clarke 5 and 4. Watney will face fifth-seeded Tiger Woods, who forged a 1-up win over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.

Watney is hoping his performance Wednesday carries over to his second match. "I feel good," said the Sacramento native. "I think I started off the year with a pretty bad attitude, just very wound up and a very short fuse. So I feel good if I can go out and have a good time and not be so caught up on every single shot. I think I would be able to hopefully play well again. And whoever that may be, it should be a good match."

After going back and forth all day, Woods finally took control of his match against the Spaniard on the 16th hole with a birdie. The two players parred out from there. Woods admitted later that it was tough going in the Arizona desert. "I don't think neither one of us had our best stuff today, subsequently the match is back and forth," said Woods, the only three-time winner of the Match Play Championship.

"It was the epitome of match play. I was 2-down through two and had a putt there at three to not go 3 down through three. And I had a putt at nine to go 2-up at the turn. And then all of a sudden I had - I made a huge par putt at 12 to not go 2-down. It was just a match that was just back and forth. And we both made our share of mistakes; there's no doubt about that. But somehow I was able to move on."

Ranked second in the bracket, American Webb Simpson fell 3 and 2 to Matteo Manassero. The 18-year-old Italian will face off next against Scotland's Martin Laird, who beat long-hitting Alvaro Quiros of Spain 1-up.

Thanks to his good start, Manassero was excited about his possibilities in the WGC event. "It was a very good match," he told reporters. "I wasn't playing that well, to be fair. But started on my way, Webb wasn't playing as well as me. I was able to make a couple of birdies. Webb started playing really well, making birdies, making putts. I was able to make some important, very important putts. And I think that was the key of this match."

In the bracket's final match, another youngster, 20-year-old Ryo Ishikawa of Japan, advanced after beating third-seeded Bill Haas - the winner in last week's Northern Trust Open on the PGA Tour - by a 1-up margin. Ishikawa will play Paul Lawrie after the Scot beat Englishman Justin Rose 1-up.

Haas actually had a 3-up lead through 13 holes. Then Ishikawa got hot, carding four birdies in his final five holes to win on the last hole. "Through the first 13 holes, it had been really tough and I wasn't playing that well," he said. "But the last five holes, I was able to compete with the opponent."

He knew that the end of the match was crunch time. "Well the only thing I could do was to be myself, and that's the only thing to be done. No misses were allowed you in that situation."

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