Woods thankful for late escape

Tiger Woods admitted he was "very, very fortunate" to have escaped with a narrow victory in the opening round at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Top seed Woods was three down with five holes left against fellow American JB Holmes, but he caught fire with his putter not a moment too soon, winning the next four holes as he reeled off three birdies, followed by an eagle at the par-five 17th.

He holed putts from progressively longer distances at each hole, starting with a 14-footer at the par-three 14th, followed by a 17-footer, a 22-footer and a 35-footer.

Woods duly halved the final hole with a par to win by one - much to the relief of the presenting television network, not to mention spectators holding weekly tickets.

"I was not hitting the ball very well most of the day, so I was very fortunate to be in the match," admitted Woods.

"I made three bogeys and gave him three holes, but somehow hit a good shot there at 14 and made the putt.

"Today was one of those lucky times where everything just happened to turn my way at the right time. I'm very, very fortunate to advance to the second round."

It was a good day for the large European continent, with 10 out of 19 advancing to the second round.

Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia were among those to post emphatic victories.

Harrington built a big lead with six birdies in the first 12 holes against American Jerry Kelly, the Open champion subsequently closing it out for a four-and-three victory at Dove Mountain, another confidence-boosting performance as he works his way back to form.

Montgomerie, meanwhile, did not look like the lowly 59th seed as he beat highly-rated American Jim Furyk three and two on a day when fellow British players Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Bradley Dredge also won their matches.

Spaniard Garcia, out in the day's first match, took an early lead and was never seriously threatened as he cruised to a three-and-two victory over Australian John Senden on a cool morning.

Carrying two putters in his bag as a "safety net", Garcia used a short putter for the first 14 holes, before dusting off the longer 'belly' putter for the final two holes.

"I made a decision early on and went with (the short putter) for pretty much the whole round," he said.

"But then I started not feeling as comfortable, and hit a couple of not-very-good putts, so I decided to go the safe route the last couple of holes."

Explaining his decision to carry two putters, and leave a three iron out of his bag, Garcia continued: "You can call it a safety net, just in case I didn't feel quite as comfortable.

"At the end of the day, I liked the things we worked on with my putting yesterday, but I still have a little work to do. The putting green is different to when you're out there in the heat of battle and the pressure is on."

Garcia has a lacklustre record in this World Golf Championships event, never advancing past the third round in six attempts, but he is obviously hoping for better things this year.

"I feel I should have done better, but it's a funny format," he said.

Donald emerged from an all-English showdown, beating Nick Dougherty two and one.

He said: "It was always a very close match.

"You never want to send a friend home but you're obviously trying to stay out here as long as possible.

"Nick played very steady and it just came down to a couple of putts at the end."