MARANA, Ariz. — The remaining top four seeds went down, and so did the defending champion.
The often-unpredictable Match Play Championship more than lived up to its reputation in a topsy-turvy second round at Dove Mountain on Thursday. An event already minus Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson sent several of the world’s best to an early exit.
Lee Westwood, Jim Furyk, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy — seeded second through fifth — were among the losers. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy was beaten by Colombian Camilo Villegas 2 and 1.
Top-seeded Steve Stricker lost Wednesday in the first round.
The highest remaining seed is England’s Paul Casey at No. 6. Casey, the runner-up a year ago who won the World Match Play Championship in England in 2006, swiftly dispatched Canadian Mike Weir, 5 and 4.
The field was narrowed to 16 for today’s third round on the sun-drenched desert course near Tucson.
Woods, obviously, skipped the event because of his personal woes, and Mickelson is on vacation with his family.
Footnotes.
Joe Durant birdied five of the final eight holes for a 7-under-par 64 and a one-stroke lead over Cameron Beckman, Briny Baird, Jarrod Lyle and J.P. Hayes in the PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
• Suzann Pettersen made a tap-in eagle on the par-5 18th for a 6-under 66 and a share of the first-round lead with M.J. Hur in the season-opening Honda PTT LPGA Thailand in Pattaya.
