IN HIS first tournament since knee surgery in June, Tiger's swing looked as good as ever and he felt no pain in his knee during a resounding opening victory here.
Few people anticipated he would be heading home after the second round on Thursday.
Tim Clark made sure of that with a round that was close to flawless. The South African made six birdies and no bogeys, ran off three straight birdies early on the
back nine and closed out the world's No 1 player with a 4 & 2 victory.
Woods tied for 17th, his first time out of the top five at any tournament since the British Open at Carnoustie in 2007.
"That is the nature of match play," Woods said. "You can play well and go home and you play poorly and advance. I just happened to catch Tim playing really well, and I didn't make enough birdies to answer him."
Indeed, Woods's scoring was good enough to have beaten three players who stayed on at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
The good news for golf is that it won't have to wait eight more months to see Woods again. He likely will play next in two weeks at Doral in the CA Championship, followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill two weeks later, then on to Augusta National for the Masters.
Phil Mickelson at No 5 was the highest seed still alive heading into the third round, having survived another late collapse to hang on for a 1-up victory over fellow Masters champion Zach Johnson.
The most compelling match of the third round will pit No 8 seed Geoff Ogilvy against No 9 seed Camilo Villegas, two players living up to their form in the most unpredictable tournament in golf.
Ogilvy won in 19 holes against Shingo Katayama, the second straight day the Australian has gone to extra holes to win. That may be an omen, as Ogilvy also went to extra holes in his first two matches back in 2006 when he won at La Costa. Villegas by contrast has needed only 26 holes to win two matches.
Attention will also turn to Rory McIlroy, the 19-year-old from Northern Ireland who is the latest youngster tipped to emerge to challenge Woods.
McIlroy, who birdied the last two holes to beat Hunter Mahan, would have been in line to face Woods in the third round, and was asked how disappointed he was not to meet Tiger.
"I'm not," he said with a laugh. "It's probably going to be a tough one, because you have to play well to beat Tiger, and obviously Tim did that today."
Along with McIlroy, British interest remains high. Luke Donald won the last three holes over No 4 seed Vijay Singh to win in 19 holes. Ian Poulter birdied the 17th hole to outlast Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, 1 up. Oliver Wilson made eight birdies and needed every one of them in a 2 & 1 victory over Anthony Kim. Paul Casey made short work of Mathew Goggin, 6 & 4; and Ross Fisher had the easiest match, a 6 & 5 win over Pat Perez.
After his toppling of Tiger, Clark acknowledged "I had to play out of my mind to beat him."
Woods himself was just pleased to be back on the golf course again, saying:
"I was really pleased, walking down these cart paths, and obviously playing and getting into the rhythm of playing. I have no soreness, have no pain. Now it's just a matter of getting back and playing, and playing more rounds."
