One year after he set a tournament record with a 9-and-8 victory in the opening round, Woods relied on a big par save early and a near ace on the 14th hole to put away Ryder Cup teammate J.J. Henry, 3 and 2, in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

For the second straight year, the shortest day belonged to Stephen Ames.

He was on the losing end of that record rout by Woods last year at La Costa, but experienced the flip side of this fickle tournament by making seven birdies in 11 holes to bury Robert Karlsson of Sweden, 8 and 7.

Fourth-seeded Phil Mickelson got a minor scare, trailing fellow lefty Richard Green of Australia and not taking the lead until the 14th hole. Mickelson won, 1-up, when Green missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.

Jim Furyk, the No. 2 seed, also trailed at the turn until making three straight birdies and beating Brett Quigley, 2 and 1. Third-seeded Adam Scott and Shaun Micheel were all square and playing their 21st hole, the longest match of the round.

"It was actually a pretty tight match," Woods said. "J.J. hit a lot of beautiful putts in the middle part of the round and even on the back nine, and those putts just didn't go in. Had they gone in it might have been a different story."