Reporting from Marana, Ariz. -- The din in the desert died hurriedly today when Tiger Woods' noisy return met up with a zany inaccuracy that annoyed him and a steady Tim Clark who beat him.A taut tilt at the Accenture Match Play Championship went to the 11th hole all square, then went pretty much haywire over the next six holes as Clark won, 4-and-2, and Woods saw his comeback after an eight-month absence stemmed at two rounds of competitive heat.
Just when things looked tight, Woods began to look annoyed as his shots began to stray and his South African opponent claimed holes Nos. 11-13 to bolt 3-up just two years after losing a second-round match to Woods by a scorched 5 and 4.
In particular, Woods struggled with the par-five No. 11 and the par-five No. 13, bogeying the former and parring the latter to lose both, finding a fairway bunker on the former and knocking an approach into the greenside rough on the latter.
Troubled, Woods reacted as became customary before his knee surgery of last June, suddenly holing out from a bunker just left of the green to pare the lead to 2-up. But that birdie turned out more entertaining than foreshadowing as its meaning waned at the very next tee.
From No. 15, a 343-yard par-four, Woods sent a monstrous and monstrously errant drive sickly right and even beyond the green, deep into the desert and deeply out of bounds. After navigating a few cactus plants and learning it had gone out, Woods had to walk all the way back to the tee, and even though he blasted his next one onto the green, his two-putt bogey restored Clark's lead to 3-up with three holes to play.
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