Golf Events / Editor / 21 February 2007 / Leave a Comment

Tiger Woods has played down his excellent current run of form as he heads into the Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain

The world number one, twice a winner in seven starts at this tournament, has won his last seven US PGA Tour-sanctioned events and is looking for his eighth successive win, although he readily admits he has recently been beaten four times in international events during his hot spell.

"I've done a lot of losing too. I lost at the match play (at Wentworth), lost in China, lost in Japan," Woods said - he has also recently been beaten in the Dubai Desert Classic.

The 12-time Major winner admits that it will be tough to win in Arizona, especially given the fact that it is a match play event where anyone can win on any given day.

"This has always been one of the tougher events to win, because of the nature of the format," Woods added.

"All I know is you have to beat one guy at a time, six guys (in all) to win the championship. It's always tougher to continue at match play, because all it takes is one hot guy. In stroke play, you can have an off day and still win."

Woods is trading as the 4.7 favourite to continue his streak with a win in Arizona, ahead of Ernie Els (15.5) and Phil Mickelson (16.5), and he takes on Ryder Cup team-mate JJ Henry in the first round.

Although Woods is a strong 1.24 favourite to win his opening match, he has praised the way Henry (4.7) both played and handled himself during the high-pressure atmosphere of the ultimately doomed clash against the Europeans at the K Club in September.

"He hit the ball beautifully during that Ryder Cup and I thought handled himself extremely well, given that was his first time in a Ryder Cup and it was over in Europe," Woods said.

"He had a lot of guts coming down 18."

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