Angry Casey's blast at match-play slow coaches

Man-to-man match play should be quick and sharp but second-round ties at the Gallery course near Tuscon were taking more than four hours in the desert heat of Arizona.

Ryder Cup hero Casey was among those left fuming. And as he prepared to meet Korea's KJ Choi for a possible quarter-final clash with top seed Tiger Woods, he hit out at the fine of $10,000 that can be imposed on dawdling players.

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Total bunkum: Paul Casey says players who have held up this week's event in Arizona should lose strokes rather than be fined

The 30-year-old British golfer said: "That's a lot of money but when you're trying to win one million dollars it doesn't make a dent.

"I'm a fan of penalising people with shots. Shots would certainly get their attention."

Casey and Colin Montgomerie are the only two British survivors through to the last 16 after Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Bradley Dredge and Luke Donald fell by the wayside.

But Casey struggled against Welshman Dredge before chalking up a 2&1 win. In the first round he produced the best golf to dispatch Sweden's Robert Karlsson, being nine under par for his 18 holes. Against Dredge he was only one-under-par for 17.

"It was a scrappy game but sometimes that's the way it goes," Casey said. "I'm going to have to play better if I want to progress."

Montgomerie is hoping European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo is keeping a close eye on his progress against American opposition. Having despatched world No6 Jim Furyk on Wednesday, the veteran Scot held off Charles Howell yesterday to earn a third-round clash with Stewart Cink.

Faldo is sitting in the television commentary booth and against Howell he would have seen that when it comes to match play Montgomerie is a fearsome competitor, one reason why he has never been beaten in eight singles matches in Ryder Cup competition.

At present, Montgomerie is a long way from qualifying by right for Europe's Ryder Cup defence at Valhalla in September and he may have to rely on a captain's pick to make the team.

He said: "This is the only matchplay tournament we have before the Ryder Cup and I think if I was the captain I'd be watching very closely."

Woods committed himself to some homework after playing way below his usual standard against first-round opponent JB Holmes. But it paid off as he beat outsider Arron Oberholser 3&2.

The world No1, who plays Australian Aaron Baddeley today, said: "I did some late night work on the range, then did some more in my hotel room.

"I just did a little work in front of the mirror to make sure that what I'm feeling is actually what I'm doing.

"In this game, feel and real are usually two different things."

The highest-profile victim of the second round was second seed Phil Mickelson, who went down 2&1 to Australia's Stuart Appleby.