Westwood is back in the match again

Lee Westwood likens the intensity of 18-hole match play golf to a play-off for a tournament title. "If you make a mistake, you're going to get punished," he said. "But I'm rather good at play-offs."

Champions need a streak of arrogance like that, and Westwood today had the look of a champion about him after the three top seeds - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Duval - fell victims to the intensity of the competition in the £4 million Accenture World Championship Match Play here.

Westwood is without a tournament title since the season of 2000 when five wins in Europe saw the Ryder Cup player finally end Colin Montgomerie's seven year domination of the Volvo Order of Merit.

Indeed, the 29-year-old Englishman's poor form has seen him tumble so far down the world rankings that the former No 5 admitted: "I don't know where I am now. I've stopped looking." In fact, he is 38th, but that is bound to improve next week if Westwood follows up his first round win by four and three over Shingo Katayama of Japan by beating Mickelson's conqueror, John Cook, in today's second round.

"I didn't play well for over a year," he said. "But it is coming back slowly and I'm playing quite solidly and with a little more confidence. I've got a chance here to make a bit of headway."

Indeed he has, especially after the early exits of the world's top three and seven of the 11 European Ryder Cup team players who had come to the West Coast seeking match play practice before September's showdown against the United States at The Belfry. Australian Peter O'Malley's two and one victory over Woods was the biggest upset in the four year history of the event.

O'Malley, the 64th seed, only got an invitation to tee-up at the La Costa Resort course after Jose Coseres withdrew with a broken arm. But after taking the lead with birdie putts on the eighth and ninth holes he never allowed Woods to get back in the tie.

An ungracious Woods later insisted he hadn't played badly but instead was a victim of bobbling greens. He seemed to overlook the fact that the conditions, while far from perfect, were exactly the same for his opponent.