TIGER Woods made a triumphant return to golf in the Accenture Match Play Championship this morning with a start that showed fans what they'd been missing for eight months.

Just past high noon in the desert, Woods fired an eight-iron into five feet for birdie.

Then came a gentle fist pump when his approach to the par-five second settled four feet from the cup for eagle.

He closed out Brendan Jones of Australia with a three-foot par on the 16th hole for a 3 and 2 victory 253 days since he limped his way to an epic US Open title.

'I told Stevie I felt like we haven't been away,' Woods said, referring to caddie Steve Williams. 'It was business as usual.'

But this was no ordinary day.

Before thousands of fans who scurried through the high desert, eager to see every shot from the world's No. 1 player, Woods never showed any indication that he had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week after winning the US Open.

'It held up,' he said. 'It felt good.'

Nerves

Woods said he had looked forward to the nerves of standing on the first tee and the rush of competing.

It was as if all that time away from golf had been bottled up inside of him. And then it came gushing out on a scorching day north of Tucson, where temperatures approached 32-deg C (90-deg F).

Fans packed into the stands around the first tee, with more lined up behind the ropes all the way to the green, and the cheer when Woods walked onto the tee could be heard all the way down the fairway.

Woods backed off his tee shot, and without much expression, belted a fairway metal down the right side of the fairway.

'You are back!' one spectator shouted.

He won the first two holes before some rust settled in. Woods made three bogeys over his next five holes and was leading, one-up, until he birdied the par-five eighth with a six-foot putt.

Jones never got any closer.

Woods seized control of the match when Jones couldn't save par behind the green on the par-3 12th, and then Woods struck another familiar pose by raising his putter above his head as his 20-foot eagle putt dropped on the 13th.

Phil Mickelson survived a tricky encounter with 2007 US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina.

Mickelson, fresh from defending his US PGA Tour title in Los Angeles on Sunday, was four-up through 13 holes but lost the next four in a row.

Cabrera won the last three of those with birdies before they halved the 18th, where Cabrera sank a 10-footer for par to extend the match.

Mickelson finally captured the match with a birdie at the 19th hole.

'I played against a very tough competitor in Angel,' Mickelson said. 'He probably didn't start the front nine the best, but the back nine he sure hit a lot of good golf shots and won four holes in a row there in the end.

'I was fortunate to win in sudden death, but I'll glady take it.'

European sensation Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland made it safely through, beating South African Louis Oosthuizen 2 and 1.

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ALL THE RESULTS

First rd:

Jones Bracket:

Tiger Woods bt Brendan Jones 3 and 2, Rory McIlroy bt Louis Oosthuizen 2 and 1, Hunter Mahan bt Mike Weir 1-up, Geoff Ogilvy bt Kevin Sutherland after 19 holes, Shingo Katayama bt Trevor Immelman 3 and 2, Camilo Villegas bt Rod Pampling 7 and 6, Miguel Angel Jimenez bt Rory Sabbatini 2 and 1.

Hogan Bracket:

Vijay Singh bt Soren Kjeldsen 2 and 1, Ernie Els bt Soren Hansen 4 and 2, Steve Stricker bt Dustin Johnson 2 and 1, Phil Mickelson bt Angel Cabrera after 19 holes, Zach Johnson bt Graeme McDowell 3 and 1, Lee Westwood bt Prayad Marksaeng 2 and 1, Stewart Cink bt Richard Sterne after 19 holes.

Player Bracket:

Boo Weekley bt Justin Rose 1-up, Sean O'Hair bt Adam Scott 1-up, Peter Hanson bt Robert Karlsson 3 and 2, Stephen Ames bt Alvaro Quiros 1-up, Mathew Goggin bt Kenny Perry 2 and 1, Paul Casey bt Aaron Baddeley 1-up.

Snead Bracket:

Jim Furyk bt Anders Hansen 2 and 1, Davis Love bt Henrik Stenson after 21 holes, Justin Leonard bt Andres Romero 2 and 1, Anthony Kim bt Lin Wen-tang 7 and 5, Oliver Wilson bt KJ Choi 3 and 1.

AFP