Accenture Match Play: Snead bracket updates

If Mike Weir had scripted it, he couldn't have written a better result than he achieved in Wednesday's first round of action at the Accenture Match Play Championship. The 2003 Masters champion birdied the first five holes, led by seven through ten holes, and steamrolled to an 8 and 6 victory over Alvaro Quiros. The lefty was just on fire, and what is interesting is that Weir came into the Snead bracket seeded 10th, while Quiros was 7th.

Jim Furyk, the #1 seed, had his hands full with 16th-seed Scott Verplank. It really was back and forth all the way, but Furyk came up with a key birdie on the 14th hole. Verplank fought hard, but when he had an opportunity to extend things on the 17th, he missed a putt and had to settle for bogey. Another very tight match was the one between #8 Hunter Mahan and #9 Charl Schwartzel, whose two birdies on 13 and 14 were key moments in the battle. Sean O'Hair, the fourth seed, got up on his opponent, 13th-seed Simon Dyson, and hung on to win (2 and 1).

One of the most interesting matches was held between fifth-seed Stewart Cink and 11th-seed Eduardo Molnari. Cink has usually done well at these events, with a second and third place finish in the past. He showed why he is such a skilled match player when he fell behind, then mounted a nice comeback on the back nine, catching up to Molinari and leading after 17 holes. Cink had a 2-1/2 foot putt for birdie on the 18th, and when Molinari missed his putt, he conceded.

Molinari's bother Francesco, who was 11th-seeded, took on former Masters champ Zach Johnson, and after getting up two holes on the back nine, Molinari lost a ball in the desert (yes, you can do that) and that was pretty much the beginning of the end.

Paul Casey, who was the second seed in the Snead bracket, who was ranked third at one point in the World Golf Rankings last year, may have been expecting a stiff challenge from 15th-seed Stephen Ames, but he didn't get one, quickly going 5-up and never being seriously pushed en route to a 5 and 4 win.

Kenny Perry, the third seed, let #14 Brian Gay hold onto a lead for the first eight holes, but got ahead when Gay started to bogey holes. That didn't hold, however, as Gay went on to birdie two Par 5's and took command shortly thereafter. This was the biggest upset on Wednesday in the Snead bracket, and Gay was one of three lower seeded players to advance to the second round in this bracket.

Furyk, who really been extended against Verplank, could not make it work against Schwartzel, who went through the whole round without making a bogey, winning 3 and 2. American audiences are waking up to Schwartzel, who faces Stewart Cink, who defeated O'Hair 1-up, in the third round.

Mike Weir's torrid play did not continue; Paul Casey proved himself to be an even hotter player, winning 5 and 4 for the second straight day, as the magic was gone from Weir's putter. Let's give some credit to Casey, who has now goten through two rounds in this tournament four years in a row. Casey wil meet Brian Gay, who scored a second consecutive upset with a win over Zach Johnson (2 up), who hung in until the 18th, but came up short.

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