| NOTES | | | The first World Golf Championships event tees off Wednesday with the
Accenture Match Play Championship. No American made the final four last year.
That group included a Colombian, Camilo Villegas, and three Europeans -
winner Ian Poulter, runner-up Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia, who lost the
consolation match to Villegas. Poulter had a mix of close matches and
blowouts en route to winning the title. He opened with a win over Justin
Leonard in a match that went to the 19th hole. That was also his only victory
over an American in his six matches. The Englishman followed with a 2 & 1
triumph over Adam Scott. Poulter routed Jeev Milkha Singh, 5 & 4, then fended
off Thongchai Jaidee, 1-up, to reach the semifinals. Poulter trounced Garcia
7 & 6 to set up the final match against Casey. Poulter led 2-up after the
morning 18, then won the first two holes of the afternoon session to push his
lead to 4-up. Casey started to rally with wins at nine and 10 to get it back
to 2-down. Poulter made a remarkable par save at 12 to halve the hole. Casey
then missed a nine-footer for birdie on 15 and was 3-down with three to go.
Poulter closed out the match on 16 with a 12-foot par-saving putt. It was his
ninth win on the European Tour, but first on the PGA Tour. Casey finished
second for the second straight year as he dropped a 4 & 3 decision to Geoff
Ogilvy in the 2009 final. There was a format change this year. The final
match will only be 18 holes. The semifinals will be played Sunday morning
before the final and consolation matches are played Sunday afternoon. In the
last five years, Tiger Woods is the only American winner. Before Poulter,
Ogilvy won twice (2006, 2009) and Henrik Stenson won the 2007 title. Prior to
Ogilvy`s win in `06, the only non-American winner was Darren Clarke, who
claimed the title in 2000. Woods won this championship three times, including
back-to-back in 2003-04. He didn`t play last year. This will be the third
straight year the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain is hosting the
championship. Golf Channel has extensive coverage Wednesday through Friday,
then early coverage before NBC has action from 2-6 p.m. (et) Saturday and
Sunday. The European Tour is off next week and will remain in the United
States the following week for the next WGC event, the Cadillac Championship,
where Ernie Els won last year. The PGA Tour heads east to Florida next week
for The Honda Classic, where Camilo Villegas is expected to defend his title.
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