A tournament that was decidedly short of solid citizens before it began almost lost its most substantial presence yesterday. As Ernie Els walked off the 17th green in the Accenture Matchplay Championship here at the Metropolitan Club, he took off his cap, ran a hand through his hair and thought to himself: "There is no way I can win this match."

As an afterthought he added, "This guy is destined to win the whole tournament. There's nothing I can do to stop him. He just keeps on coming on."

The guy in question was Japan's Hidemichi Tanaka, and it was the way the two had played the 17th which had provoked these untypically defeatist thoughts from Els. The South African smashed his tee-shot down the middle; Tanaka hooked deep into the trees. Tanaka came out sideways and played his third shot, a bad one, 30 yards from the pin.

Els, from his immaculate drive, hit a seven-iron to about 15 feet, whereupon Tanaka holed his 90-footer for par. It was classic match-play and it is to the credit of the world number two that although he mentally despaired, he still made par and remained one hole ahead.

Then, to the relief not just of Els but also the tournament sponsor, they halved the last. "I don't know that I'm a lover of this match-play stuff anymore," said a grinning Els. The South African felt he had played well, his only mistakes being two shortish putts missed, whereas he had watched his opponent recovering from all kinds of unlikely places.

At least Els survived, which is more than the number three seed, Vijay Singh, can say. He also faced Japanese opposition in Toru Taniguchi and was quickly four down. He played the back nine in three-under but it was not enough. As Hal Sutton, the number two seed, had been beaten in the first round, only four of the top 10 survive: Els; Tom Lehman (4); Michael Campbell (5) and Justin Leonard (7).

Gary Orr had a marvellous chance to reduce that list still further. He was one up on Leonard after 15 holes and the American drove so far into the trees he had to chip out backwards. He could not reach the green in three, but Orr, from the middle of the fairway, contrived to bunker himself by the green.

Leonard chipped dead and Orr skinned his recovery shot over the green and into a bunker on the other side. He came out to 20 feet, missed the putt and a hole that should have been won was lost.

The Scot did get to extra holes, but again found a bunker, again thinned the sand shot through the green, and this time there was no respite.

Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, played military golf with tee-shots, according to his opponent Mark McNulty, going first left and then right, missing the fairway regularly. He was clearly not at ease and McNulty brought a halt to the proceedings on the 14th.

Second Round: C Stadler (USA 57) bt C Parry (Aus 40) 7 and 6; A Coltart (Sco 41) bt D Toms (USA 9) 3 and 2; M Campbell (Nzl 5) bt T Izawa (Jpn 28) 5 and 4; S Stricker (USA 55) bt S Verplank (USA 23) 3 and 2; M McNulty (Zim 59) bt P Lawrie (Sco 27) 5 and 4; J Van de Velde (Fra 49) bt R Goosen (Rsa 17) 4 and 3; J Leonard (USA 7) bt G Orr (Sco 26) 1 up; D Hart (USA 18) bt R Allenby (Aus 15) 5 and 4.