MARANA, Ariz. -- Tiger Woods calls Stewart Cink "Kitchen" and he'll be hoping he doesn't throw it at him in the finals of the WGC-Accenture World Match Play the way he did in the semis against Justin Leonard. All Cink did was go out in a little six-under-par 29, build a huge lead and coast to a 4-and-2 win into a Sunday meeting against Woods, who beat defending champion Henrik Stenson, 2 up.

"Boy, it was a hot start," said Cink, who distinguished himself both in the most recent Presidents and Ryder Cups, beating Nick O'Hern in singles in one and Sergio Garcia in the other. "I felt like everything was going in and it was, pretty much. You know, when you get off to a start like that, sometimes you almost find yourself in a position where you don't really know what to do. I think I ran out of gas a little bit. Good thing I had a big cushion because I was leaking a little oil."

Woods' 2 up victory over Stenson, who had won 10 straight in the Accenture Match Play, was a methodical, if somewhat pedestrian match, with both players making birdies on the holes they were supposed to birdie and avoiding mistakes everywhere else. Stenson grabbed a bit of momentum on the 13th when he rescued a par after driving it left deep into the desert. He got all square in the match with a birdie on the 16th, but Woods came right back on the par-5 17th, getting up and down from the greenside bunker for a winning birdie of his own while Stenson couldn't reach the green after driving into the right rough.

"I felt like I was in control of the match all day," said Woods. "I was up early and even though we got all square, he never took the lead." Even on the 17th tee, Woods still felt in control. "We're both long hitters and I've been in that position before. I've played umpteen more matches than he has. I've seen it all and nothing really surprises me out there." Against Cink, Woods will be seeking his third straight title in '08, his sixth straight worldwide (dating back to the BMW Championship last fall) and 15th World Golf Championship title.

And, in the Gone But Not Forgotten category:

Good Monty: It was Good Monty rather than Petulant Monty on the premises all week. He was clever, witty and candid talking about his pending marriage, wanting desperately to get into the Masters and even doing a little not-so-tongue-in-cheek lobbying of European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo in the television booth. Warming up next to Boo Weekley before their third round matches (both of which were lost), the American had Monty laughing so hard he could barely pull a wedge back. Seems Boo got in a little fender-bender leaving the course the night before. Montgomerie was a witness to the scene but was just that morning getting the whole story, country-style. At one point he turned to his caddie and said, "Can I take him home with me?"

The Tank: On the 15th hole in their morning semifinal match, K.J. Choi stuck his approach four feet from the hole in an attempt to close in on Woods -- only to have Tiger hole out first from 31 feet. As he was walking off the green, Choi's caddie, Andy Prodger, said, "The magician has done it to us again."

The Desert: Adios. In the desert, all the plants want to hurt you. After tomorrow it's time to go east young men, which means Bermuda grass, warm weather and Augusta on the horizon.

--Jim Moriarty

MARANA, Ariz. -- Never give Tiger Woods life. Aaron Baddeley found that out the hard way Friday in a sensational battle at The Gallery in the third round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Three times the young Australian had chances to put the top-ranked and top-seeded Woods away, but just missed putts. Finally, on the second hole of sudden death, Woods slammed the door with a 13-foot birdie putt, removing his cap just as the ball disappeared into the hole.

"It looked pretty good from where I was," a drained and relieved Woods said afterward.

The match was one for the ages, befitting of a final. Woods (12) and Baddeley (10) combined for 22 birdies. During one stretch, Baddeley birdied eight of nine holes (including a concession), to reverse a 2-down deficit into a 1-up advantage after 15 holes.

Woods responded by hitting an 8-iron to two feet at the par-3 16th for a birdie to square the match. Then Baddeley had near-miss eagle/birdie/eagle attempts at 17, 18 and 1 to win but couldn't convert.

"It was unbelievable, really," said Woods, who will face K.J. Choi in the quarterfinals  Saturday morning. "I made two bogeys and gave him two holes, but he did the same. But every other hole it seemed like we birdied."

Baddeley, still getting comfortable with a swing change, gave Woods all he could handle.

"I played really nice, especially after being 2 down after two," he said. "I was just trying to make as many birdies as I could. It was disappointing to miss those putts, but I'm encouraged with the way I played."

The last time Woods and Baddeley played together was in the final round of the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Leading by two strokes, Baddeley triple-bogeyed the first hole and shot 80.

"You have to understand he was in a major transition with his golf swing," said Woods. "It takes time. And he's won some tournaments now with his swing and has proven he can hit shots down the stretch. You can't hit the ball poorly at Oakmont and be leading after three rounds."

Woods, the only two-time winner of this event, enjoyed the birdie-fest, as did the large gallery that followed throughout.

He also overcame adversity. At the 495-yard fourth hole, Woods hooked his tee shot into the desert and had a restricted swing because of a cactus. Forced to swing left-handed, he hit a gallery stake with his second shot, barely advancing the ball. This, after a marshal asked if he wanted the stake removed.

"The thing is I was actually aiming probably 15 feet right of that," Woods said of the stake. "Club's upside down, so I hit it kind of off the bottom and it shot left. I wasn't aiming over there, trust me."

At the par-4 13th, Woods pushed his tee shot to the right and hit a marshal in the head, the ball caroming into the desert. Woods gave a glove to the man and showed genuine concern, then had to take an unplayable lie and lost the hole.

"He seemed OK," Woods said. "He was totally alert, there was blood everywhere. I didn't see any knot. He said he was fine."

Woods has now won 20 of his last 23 matches and is 28-6 overall. He is 18-4 against International players and 10-2 against Americans.

He'll be tested again against Choi, who beat him four times last year in head-to-head situations, including victories at the Memorial Tournament and inaugural AT&T National.

"K.J. is a great guy and one of the best drivers out here," said Woods. "He drives it on a string most of the time. He's been very consistent over the last few years. So I expect that will be the case tomorrow and it will be a tough match."

-- Mark Soltau              

MARANA, Ariz. -- A stomach virus is probably not the best of all possible preparations for a title defense but Henrik Stenson seems to be making the best of it anyway. "I was sick as a dog," said the defending champion at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship of his condition the week before the event.

"The first week I had a cold so I took it fairly easy. Then, the second week when I was going start practice and we were going to travel over here, I picked up a stomach virus and was as sick as I have ever been," Stenson said. "I've been to Morocco. I've been a few places. I've had a few bugs in the past. It was pretty brutal."

Instead of getting to his Orlando digs on Wednesday the week before the Match Play, Stenson couldn't make the trip until Friday. It was on to Tucson on Sunday. The day before the matches began was his first day of practice in two weeks. "I like match play," said Stenson, which is a good thing because every match he's had so far has gone to the 18th hole or beyond. "The task at hand is very clear. You either beat or get beaten. You need to do better than the guy you're playing. It's the simplicity of it."

Stenson, who already has a pair of good finishes in the desert this year with seconds in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, nicked Robert Allenby 1 up in the first round, then went 25 holes against Trevor Immelman in his second match before beating Jonathan Byrd 1 up to reach the final eight.

"Trevor had a few 15, 20-footers yesterday to put me out of the tournament and, fortunately for me, he didn't make any of those," said the 31-year-old Swede, who finally ended the tussle when he got up and down from the greenside bunker on the drivable par four seventh. Against Allenby, Stenson had to pitch out of trouble on the last, then stiffed a 7-iron to save par and close out the match against the Australian.

Byrd had the easiest opening matches of anyone (outside of Aaron Baddeley, who was conceded his second match when David Toms pulled out with back problems) easily defeating Ernie Els and Andres Romero, neither of whom shot under par, but he had his hands full with Stenson. Byrd made four birdies on the front nine to Stenson's two birdies and eagle. On the back nine Byrd was unable to match Stenson's birdie on the 17th when the Swede reached the 601-yard uphill par 5 in two shots and two putted from 27 feet.

Stenson draws Woody Austin next. "The first time I played with him was at the Wentworth Match Play in October last year and we had a good, tight match," Stenson said. "We had to suspend due to darkness and then come back the next morning and I just managed to make a birdie on 18 to win that one, so I'm sure he wants to make it one-all rather than two-nothing. He's a tough competitor and there are not too many lakes for him to fall into here, either."

-- Jim Moriarty

TUCSON, Ariz. -- While Tiger Woods was busy dropping a dime on J.B. Holmes with five birdies and an eagle on the back nine to rally from 3 down and Phil Mickelson was trading long bombs with Pat Perez -- the marquee No. 1 seeds both surviving 1 up -- it was a case of the good, the bad and the Utley for the rest.

The Good: No match was better played than the one between Ryder Cup mates Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson, neither of whom made a bogey. Casey was nine under par to win 2 up while the Swede was seven under and X'd out. This is what's known as the "vagaries of match play" though the Swedish version of that phrase is probably unprintable at present.

Woody Austin managed to block out enough Aquaman references to shoot 30 on the outward nine and drown Toru Taniguchi, 6 and 5. Lee Westwood wasn't half bad making eight birdies to beat Brandt Snedeker, 3 and 2. And British Open champion Padraig Harrington admitted to being "a little jumpy" because his game's not on this early in the season, but he was still six under par through 12 holes to take out Jerry Kelly.

Harrington was up at precisely 4:50 a.m. for his 8:08 match. "It's all timed," said the Irishman. "It takes 40 minutes of gym work and 20 minutes to wash up. That's an hour. That's ten to five. It took 40 minutes to get here. That's 6:30. Fifteen minutes for breakfast, 20 minutes for physio. Three minutes to get out to the tee or to the practice ground. An hour to warm up. It's normally two and a half hours, plus travel. So, three hours, 10 minutes and I gave an extra eight minutes today just because it takes a few minutes to get around the place here." Obsessive much?

The Bad: With the family off visiting the Grand Canyon, last-second entry Ernie Els couldn't take as much pleasure in the view from The Gallery. In fact, Els hasn't been a very pretty sight anywhere this year. Two in the water to lose the Alfred Dunhill Championship, one in the hazard to lose to Woods in the Dubai Desert Classic, a 75 to open the Indian Masters and today a 40 on the front nine to lose his match to Jonathan Byrd 6 and 5. "To be honest with you," Els said earlier in the week, "I've taken some big blows in the last four or five years." And the pummeling doesn't seem to be easing up.

The Utley: Sergio Garcia has turned to Stan Utley, the putting and short game guru, to help him get the ball in the hole but he still wasn't comfortable enough with his new stroke to rely on it completely. Instead, Garcia took two putters out on the course with him, using the short putter for the first 14 holes against John Senden and then switching to the belly putter when the nerves frayed, eventually winning 3 and 2.

Oh, and, just one piece of advice, J.B. If all Woods has to do is two-putt from 17 and a half feet to win a hole, tell him to pick it up. Otherwise, you might just set him off.

-- Jim Moriarty