Monty relishes 'revenge' mission

Colin Montgomerie will be seeking revenge when he meets fellow Briton Paul Casey in the second round at the Accenture Match Play Championship on Thursday.

It is only five months since Casey romped to an easy semi-final victory over his Ryder Cup team-mate en route to winning the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, not to be confused with this week’s event in the Arizona desert.

They have become good friends in recent times, not that that will mean anything once they get in the heat of battle at Dove Mountain.

“Paul beat me last time we went around, so I hope for some kind of revenge,” Montgomerie said.

“He’s one for the future.”

Montgomerie was speaking after beating Swede Johan Edfors two and one in the first round, while Casey also had to work hard to fend off Canadian Mike Weir one-up.

“I’m very, very happy to sneak a win, because it was tough all the way,” said Casey, who was eliminated at the first hurdle in his four previous appearances in this World Golf Championships event.

“I’ve finally won a match. He was always down the middle and putting the pressure on and that’s the sign of a good match play player.”

Casey also expects to have his work cut out to beat Montgomerie: “He’s going to be even tougher than Mike,” he continued.

“You can’t overpower Monty, unfortunately. He’s just going to sneak his way around. I’m glad I got the better of him at Wentworth but it’s a new day and it’s only 18 holes, so you’ve got to come straight out of the blocks and be slightly aggressive.

“I’ve always been a bit of a slow starter. At Wentworth, I got a little bit more focused as the matches went on, because the matches never get easier.”

Montgomerie and Casey were among 11 winners on Wednesday from the 19-man European contingent, on a day when there were few major upsets. The lower seed won 11 of 32 matches, but in many of those the lower seed was actually the betting favourite.

There were only two upsets of note. Welshman Bradley Dredge, the 60th seed, knocked off fifth seed Ernie Els, quite easily in the end, four and two.

And American Shaun Micheel upset third seed Adam Scott, one-up at the third extra hole.

Micheel, the 2003 US PGA Championship winner, is turning into quite a giant killer, after beating Tiger Woods in the first round at Wentworth last year.

Top seed Woods had little trouble beating fellow American JJ Henry three and two, not that Henry played badly. He had just one blemish on his card, but three birdies were not nearly enough to make a real match of it.

“It was a pretty tight match,” Woods said. “JJ hit a lot of beautiful putts in the middle of the round and on the back nine that just didn’t go in. Had they gone in, it might have been a different story.

“I hit a couple of loose shots here and there but overall I was consistent enough to put pressure on him most of the day.”

With Phil Mickelson also winning in the state where he attended university, it was a good day for the locals who were hoping to get more than one opportunity to see their favourite two players.

Next up for Woods is South African Tim Clark, while Mickelson faces part-time London resident Justin Rose.