Citizen Staff Writer
MATCH PLAY
BRYAN LEE
brylee@tucsoncitizen.com
Anthony Kim helped lead the host of American victories Wednesday at the Accenture Match Play in Marana, but he was glad just to be on U.S. soil.
Count them – 47 hours of flying the last two weeks. Or maybe he shouldn’t; it tires a guy out just doing that.
The itinerary included Dubai, Malaysia and Australia. Kim, the newest American hero after guiding the U.S. to the 2008 Ryder Cup title, wanted to sample global golf before returning home to Los Angeles two days ago. His only home break since December was the recent FBR Open in Scottsdale.
“I got to pet my dog and see my parents. That’s all I needed,” Kim said of his brief stop at his own home before coming to Tucson.
Kim beat Wen-Tang Lin of Taiwan 7 and 5 Wednesday in the third match of the day, then retired for some rest.
“I don’t think I’ll be watching too much (more) golf today,” he said. “This is a long week – I need to be able to save my legs.”
His game showed some strain, including leaving a shot in bunker sand, but his opponent aided him with three straight early bogeys and five in the first nine holes.
“I didn’t play as well as the score showed,” said Kim, who has played mostly overseas this year, including in Australia, Dubai and Malaysia. “There are some things I need to tighten up with my short game and putting.”
Weekley down, then up
Boo Weekley did hot and cold Wednesday and survived Justin Rose with a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 18.
“Yeah, it was a pretty clutch putt,” Weekly said in rather mild “Boospeak.” “I kind of lost concentration there in about the middle of my round. I don’t know if it was because I ain’t played enough or what’s been going on, but I just kind of lost it.”
Weekly survived three bogeys in his round but had four birdies on the second nine.
He will meet countryman Sean O’Hair Thursday. O’Hair won 1-up over Adam Scott.
Garcia, Harrington lose
The upsets of the day were No. 63 Charl Schwartzel 1-up over No. 2 Sergio Garcia, No. 60 Davis Love III over No. 7 Henrik Stenson 3 and 2, and No. 59 Pat Perez’s 2-up victory over No. 3 Padraig Harrington, the 2008 Player of the Year.
Perez used an eagle-3 on No. 2 to spark a steady run that had just three birdies. He parred out on the last five holes.
“Obviously, winning is a huge confidence builder,” said Perez, “and once you start beating guys like him, the confidence just keeps going up.”
Schwartzel made a long second-nine birdie count in his win and Love overcame three bogeys.
Another major upset was No. 57 Mathew Goggin’s 2 and 1 score against No. 15 Kenny Perry, the latter haunted by three bogeys.
Singh not satisfied
Defending FedEX Cup champion Vijay Singh overcame an early birdie by Soren Kjeldsen and used 13 pars and no bogeys to win 2 and 1.
Another day at the office.
“I’ve got to play more aggressive,” Singh said.
“I think I get a little tentative in the beginning. I think I’ve got to be more aggressive tomorrow if I want to keep going.”