Woods in victory return

TUCSON (Arizona) - TIGER Woods made a triumphant return from injury Wednesday, defeating Australian Brendan Jones 3 and 2 in the first round of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

Woods was playing his first tournament since his US Open triumph last June.

Eight days after that victory, the 14-time major champion had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

'I'm very pleased at how it felt all day,' Woods said. 'I thought that it would be more stiff on 15 tee, when I had to hit my shot after that long wait.

But I felt fine. It held up well.' The US superstar set golf fans salivating when he announced last Thursday that he would return to defend his title here.

Woods was quick out of the blocks, making a birdie at the first hole and taking a 2-up lead at the second, where he hit his approach within four feet and Jones conceded.

It was just the kind of start Woods had said he needed to shake the rust off his game.

'I thought it would take me a little bit longer to get into the rhythm of the round and try and find it,' Woods admitted.

'It just came down to playing the game again, and that felt good.' Woods's lead dwindled when he bogeyed the par-four seventh as Jones made par.

But he responded with a seven-foot birdie at the next hole.

Woods extended his advantage to 3-up at the par-three 12th, where Jones fired his tee shot over the green into the back rough. Woods had found the fringe but chipped to within three feet.

Woods then eagled the par-five 13th, where he holed a long putt from the fringe to top Jones's birdie and take a 4-up lead Jones showed he wasn't finished yet with an eagle at 15 that narrowed the gap by one. But when Woods saved par from a bunker to halve the 16th it was all over.

Woods was joined at the top of the draw by Spain's Sergio Garcia, Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Fiji's Vijay Singh. -- AFP