The biggest shock of Wednesday’s first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship was the loss by defending champ and world No. 1 Luke Donald, who was beaten 5 and 4 by 64th seed Ernie Els.
But that certainly wasn’t the only upset — if there truly are any "upsets" in this event — at Dove Mountain.
Almost half of Wednesday’s 32 matches (15 to be exact) were won by the lower seed. Els was the only 16th seed to win, but two 15th seeds — Matteo Manassero and Robert Rock — also advanced.
Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Tiger Woods managed to avoid the upset … barely. He scraped by against Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 1 and later said, "I’m very fortunate to move on."
The key is that he is moving on, unlike Donald. In winning last year, Donald never trailed after any hole, but with Wednesday’s match all square after seven, he lost four of the next five holes to Els.
It’s only the third time in Accenture Match Play history that the No. 1 overall seed has lost to No. 64. Steve Stricker lost to Ross McGowan in 2010, and Woods lost to Peter O’Malley in 2002.
"I just didn’t play very well," Donald said. "I struggled. I gave away too many holes and made too many mistakes. You can’t do that in match play against anyone, let alone Ernie."
Said Els: “There’s always hype when the No. 1 player is playing with the No. 64 seed. But I think Luke and I took it for what it was, you know. And I think he didn’t want to play me and I sure as hell didn’t want to play him the first round.
“But that’s the way it worked out. But I played well. I thought I hit the ball well and eventually made the odd putt. Luke had a bit of an off day. I’m obviously very pleased to go through. “
The other No. 1 seeds — Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy — all advanced. But No. 2 seeds Webb Simpson and Adam Scott were knocked out.
Kyle Stanley and Brandt Snedeker each won their matches and will be face each other in Thursday’s second round. The last time they were together, Snedeker won a playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open after Stanley had blown a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole.
Bubba Watson and Ben Crane played a bogey-free match, with Watson beating his good friend and fellow "Golf Boy" 3 up. David Toms had eight birdies in knocking off Rickie Fowler 1 up. Robert Karlsson had six birdies in beating fellow Swede Fredrik Jacobson 6 and 5.
But the most impressive round was turned in by Keegan Bradley, who had six birdies and one eagle in a bogey-free 15 holes to beat Geoff Ogilvy 4 up. Ogilvy is a two-time Match Play winner and suffered just his second first-round loss in seven starts.
"I played about as good as I could play," Bradley said. "I didn’t miss a fairway or a green. I saw a lot of birdies and that’s always tough to beat."
