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Solid start for Knost

Colt Knost, the former SMU golfer and reigning U.S. Amateur champion, looks like someone who could pick up a nice payday at this week's Mayakoba Classic at Playa del Carmen, Mexico. That is the PGA Tour's alternate stop this week, for golfers who did not qualify for the WGC-Match Play event.

Knost, a rookie on the Nationwide Tour, opened with a 70 and is positioned in the top half of the leaderboard heading into today's second round. The 22-year-old turned pro last fall, posting a best finish of 38th in four professional appearances at PGA Tour events. Based on the field in Mexico, I'm guessing Knost could crack the top 30 this week and make some headway toward earning his tour card for next season.

_ Jimmy Burch

Beware the high-flying Byrd

Of all the upset winners during the first two rounds of the WGC-Match Play Championship, the guy who has impressed me the most is Jonathan Byrd. He's seeded 61st overall (16th in the Hogan Bracket) and he's disposed of his first two opponents in short order.

Byrd dusted Ernie Els, the top seed in the Hogan Bracket, by a 6&5 margin in his first match and followed that with a 6&4 victory over Argentina's Andres Romero in the second round. Byrd takes on the defending champ, Henrik Stenson, in today's third-round match.

If he can get past that one, I like Byrd's chance to wind up in a winner-take-all match with Tiger Woods in the semifinals. Of course, by predicting this, I've probably doomed poor Byrd to a sound whipping at the hands of Stenson. But I'll stick with my prediction. And this potentially cheesy headline in Monday's papers: Unmatched birdied barrage lifts Byrd to Match Play title.

Or something equally punny. You get the idea ...

As for other longshot golfers to track the rest of the week:

-- Colin Montgomerie (No. 59 seed overall) has won his first two matches and should fare well today against Stewart Cink. Monty just needs to find a way to convince Cink they're playing a singles match at the Ryder Cup, and he's a shoe-in to the next round.

--  Justin Leonard, the No. 50 seed, has looked strong in his first two matches. I don't expect him to get past Stuart Appleby today but it would not be a shock if he did.

_ Jimmy Burch

Upsets rule the day at Match Play Championship

At an event known for unexpected results, today's early returns from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship have been more startling than in most seasons.

With several afternoon matches nearing conclusion, including narrow leads for top seeds Tiger Woods (1-up thru 17 holes) and Phil Mickelson (1-up thru 16 holes), the big news involves a top seed who was routed (Ernie Els) and another who is in danger of being ousted (Steve Stricker).

As things stand at roughly 5:20 p.m. (Central time), the following big names already have been sent packing: top-seed Els, No. 2 seeds Jim Furyk and Rory Sabbatini and No. 4 seeds Zach Johnson (reigning Masters champ) and Geoff Ogilvy. Ogilby, the 2006 U.S. Open champ, won the Match Play event in 2006 and was the runner-up last year. But he was bounced this morning by Dallas resident Justin Leonard, 2&1.

The biggest stunner occurred in the Ben Hogan Bracket, where Els was hammered by No. 16 seed Jonathan Byrd, 6&5. It stands alonside Woody Austin's 6&5 upset of Toru Taniguchi (No. 10 seed over No. 7 seed) as the most lopsided match of the opening day.

With a handful of matches still in progress, here are the results that have caught my attention to date:

-- Els' lopsided loss to Byrd.

-- No. 1 seed Steve Stricker, all square on the 19th hole with No. 16 Daniel Chopra.

-- No. 2 seed Rory Sabbatini, the Colonial champ, falling 4&3 to Bradley Dredge.

-- No. 2 seed Jim Furyk losing to No. 15 seed Colin Montgomerie, 3&2

-- Leonard knocking off Ogilvy, a finalist at this event in each of the past two years.

-- No. 13 David Toms over No. 4 Zach Johnson, 2&1

-- No. 11 Boo Weekley over No. 6 Martin Kaymer, 2&1

-- No. 15 Rod Pampling over No. 2 Justin Rose, 2&1

-- No. 10 Nick O'Hern over No. 7 Scott Verplank, 3&2

-- No. 10 Charles Howell over No. 7 Stephen Ames, 19 holes

_ Jimmy Burch

a 6&5 loser to No. 15 seed Jonathan Byrd; No. 2 seed Jim Furyk, a 3&2 loser to 

Ominous sign for Singh

First, the disclaimer: Yes, it's easy to read too much into a player's psyche and abilities -- good or bad -- based on one final-round performance in a PGA Tour event. And, yes, even Hall of Famers have their bad days.

All of that being said, it's reasonable to wonder if we're starting to see the beginning of the end for Vijay Singh, based on Sunday's final-round collapse at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Singh, who will be 45 on Feb. 22, squandered a three-stroke lead with three consecutive back-nine bogeys, then lost a playoff to journeyman Steve Lowery. For Singh, a three-time major champion who was ranked No. 1 in the world rankings during the 2005 season, Sunday's meltdown was shockingly out of character. Normally rock-solid when playing with a final round lead, he self-destructed enough on the back nine at Pebble Beach to force a playoff, then failed to close out a guy who was ranked No. 305 in the world at the time of the playoff. Lowery, 47, won for only the third time in his PGA Tour career and for the first time since the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

In other words, this is far from Singh, winner of 31 PGA Tour events, getting reeled in by a stellar Sunday charge from Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. This is Singh letting one get away, as he readily admitted after the round. This loss, more than most, will have residual effects -- all of them negative -- on the confidence level of a Hall of Fame player who is battling Father Time and has been backtracking toward the pack in the world rankings for the past two seasons.

After the round, the normally stoic Singh clearly resonated despair when he said: "I'm very disappointed. I let this one slip away. I didn't think I was going to lose this. I need to go re-think and see what really went wrong."

Singh admitted surprise at watching himself hit "one bad shot after another, in three holes in succession."

Normally, I'd dismiss a Sunday collapse by Singh -- never the best of putters -- as a bad putting day and as something he'd shake off quickly. Few tour competitors are tougher mentally than Vijay.

But given the nature of this collapse -- lots of self-infliced wounds, compounded by a playoff loss to a journeyman -- I'm thinking this will haunt Singh for quite a while. I may be overreacting. But I consider this an ominous sign for a 45-year-old fighting to remain an elite player on the PGA Tour.

-- Jimmy Burch