CARLSBAD, Calif. — Tiger Woods and Scott Verplank would appear to have nothing in common the way they got through the first round of the Match Play Championship.

Woods set a tournament record by beating Stephen Ames into submission, 9 and 8, in two hours. Verplank matched a tournament record by going 26 holes before outlasting Lee Westwood of England in a match that lasted six hours.

"What do we have in common? We both won," Verplank said.

And in the Accenture Match Play Championship, that's all that matters.

Wipe the slate clean for Thursday, when the goal remains the same — beat the next guy with whatever golf it takes and avoid going to the front desk at La Costa Resort to check out.

Even so, a wild Wednesday at La Costa was far from routine.

Motivated by remarks about his wild tee shots, Woods took Stephen Ames to the woodshed Wednesday with a ruthless performance that lasted only 10 holes, the shortest round mathematically possible in 18 holes of match play. He won the first nine holes, seven of them with a birdie.

Ames was on the practice range Monday afternoon — he got into the 64-man field only when Thomas Bjorn withdrew because of a sore neck — and was asked if he would play as though he had nothing to lose against the No. 1 player.

Ames shook his head.

"Anything can happen," he said, breaking into a wide smile. "Especially where he's driving it."

Woods read the remarks and responded by hitting six of eight fairways, opening with six birdies and acting as if he was in a playoff until they removed their caps and shook hands on the 10th hole. Asked if he felt the least bit sorry for Ames, Woods stared back at a reporter and said, "No."

Ames was duly impressed.

"Tiger played exceptionally well," Ames said. Then he looked over to confer with Woods on how many birdies he made on the front nine and he added with heavy sarcasm, "It was a rough nine for Tiger."

"If he continues playing the way he's playing, he should walk away with this — easily," Ames said.

Not everything was easy at La Costa Resort.

The Big Easy — Ernie Els — made another early exit when he lost to Bernhard Langer on the 18th hole. That was one of six matches that went the distance, and a record seven matches went even longer.

Verplank teed off three hours before Woods and finished an hour later.

He battled for six hours against Westwood, whom he beat in the '02 Ryder Cup in another tight match. This one probably should have lasted 17 holes, too, but Verplank made a careless bogey on the 17th by missing the green from the fairway, then Westwood made a 20-footer for birdie to win the 18th.

"After that, it was survival for both of us," Verplank said.

Verplank stayed alive with par putts of 8 feet and 6 feet to extend the match. Westwood saved par from a bunker with a 10-footer on the fifth. It ended, finally, when Westwood couldn't escape from the trees on the par-5 eighth and made bogey. Verplank only had to two-putt for par from 30 feet, and lagged it to about 8 inches.

"That's good," Westwood told him.

"Thank God," Verplank replied.

Colin Montgomerie appeared to have his match in hand against Niclas Fasth, 4 up through eight holes, when a homely match turned downright ugly. Monty kept making bogeys as the Swede cut into his lead, then shockingly went 1 up with pars on the 14th and 15th.

Montgomerie pulled even with a par on the 16th, then beat him in 23 holes.

"It doesn't matter what hole, it's nice to win," he said. "Match play is a lottery, a crazy game."

Paul Casey birdied three of his first four holes and would have shot 4-under 68, but that doesn't matter because Henrik Stenson hung with him and won on the 18th hole. Carl Pettersson was 1 over, but that was enough to knock out Kenny Perry on the 18th hole.

The other top seeds had an easy time. Vijay Singh hammered Graeme McDowell, refusing to let him win a single hole in a 5-and-4 victory, while Retief Goosen had an equally calm day with a 5-and-4 win over Paul Broadhurst.

Phil Mickelson, the No. 5 seed, went 18 holes to beat Charles Howell III.

Defending champion David Toms didn't require any magical shots to beat Ian Poulter the way he did last year in the semifinals, squeaking past him in 19 holes.

Told about Woods' win, Toms was surprised — not by the margin, but what might have led to it.

"I don't know if you give the best player in the world any extra incentive to want to beat you," Toms said.

It wasn't the first time for Woods.

Six years ago in the Presidents Cup, Singh's caddie showed up on the first tee of their singles match with "Tiger Who?" written on the back of his cap. It was a mild prank that Woods took to the extreme, not conceding a putt of any length to Singh and beating him, 2 and 1.

Asked about his reaction to Ames' comments in a press conference, Woods said, "Nine and eight."

The large, white scoreboard behind the 18th green generated a big buzz on a day of sunshine at La Costa as fans walked by and gawked at the sight of Woods building his lead with each hole he played.

"It's not physical, where you go up there and put a shoulder in somebody and take him out," Woods said. "It's about the ability to bear down and pull out quality golf shots on your own, and put an inordinate amount of pressure on your opponent. That's the only thing you can do in our sport."

That he did.

But it only got him the same reward as Verplank — another day at La Costa with no guarantees.