CARLSBAD, Calif., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson moved into the third round of the rain-soaked Accenture Match Play Championship Thursday and defending champion Kevin Sutherland beat another young star to keep his hopes alive for a second straight title.
Veterans Scott Hoch, Nick Price and Jay Haas all advanced as well and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke recorded a shockingly one-sided triumph over Davis Love III.
The second round of the only match play event on the PGA Tour was completed despite torrential rains that struck the La Costa Resort & Spa course in the middle of the day.
Play began in cool, drizzly conditions and then a storm swept through the area -- flooding greens and forcing a brief delay in play. Once the rains moved on, the sun came out. But small ponds formed on some of the fairways and water also was standing in many of the bunkers as matches resumed.
Woods shook off all of the weather difficulties to defeat K.J. Choi of South Korea, 5 & 3. For the second straight day, Woods lost the opening hole. But he won three of the next four, taking control when he almost aced the par-3 fifth.
"When the weather is like this, you have to keep the ball in play at all costs," Woods said. "K.J. played a beautiful round of golf, but just made a couple of mistakes at the end.
"I played pretty solid. You know if you don't make any mistakes, you're more than likely to win the match."
Woods, who has yet to bogey a hole, will meet Australian Stephen Leaney in Friday's third round. Leaney stormed past Justin Leonard in the second round by winning the first four holes en route to a 6 & 5 victory.
Mickelson let a 2-up lead get away against Brad Faxon, but then captured three straight holes beginning at the 12th and pulled out a 3 & 2 win. Mickelson's opponent in the third round will be Jerry Kelly, who rallied from 3-down to beat Mike Weir, 2 & 1. Weir came into the event as the PGA Tour's leading money winner this year with victories at the Bob Hope Classic and Nissan Open.
Sutherland, meanwhile, continued to amaze in the match play format. He won this tournament last year and did little else the rest of the season and barely qualified for this event.
After rallying to defeat Sergio Garcia in the first round, he defeated young English star Justin Rose, 1-up. Sutherland, who has won eight straight matches in this tournament, now will face another of the sport's rising stars -- Australian Adam Scott.
Scott eliminated Rocco Mediate Thursday, 1-up.
Hoch was a 3 & 2 winner over Padraig Harrington of Ireland; Price downed Niclas Fasth of Sweden, 2 & 1; and Haas, the oldest player in the field at age 49, was a 1-up winner over Japan's Shigeki Maruyama. Price and Haas will meet in the third round while Hoch will take on Toshi Izawa of Japan, who eliminated Eduardo Romero of Argentina, 3 & 1.
One of Thursday's top attractions is expected to be Clarke's match against Jim Furyk in a battle of Ryder Cup members. Clarke trounced Love, 7 & 6, and Furyk crushed Steve Lowery, 6 & 5.
Other third-round matches will send Peter Lonard of Australia against countryman Robert Allenby and David Toms against Alex Cejka of Germany.
