It was a miserable day for Japanese competitors as both 22nd-seeded Shigeki Maruyama and 64th-seeded Shingo Katayama were eliminated after the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship on Thursday.

Maruyama lost to David Howell 6 and 5 with five holes remaining at the 7,257-yard layout at La Costa Resort and Spa, and world No. 1 Vijay Singh beat Katayama 4 and 3 after 15 holes in a rematch of last year's opening round of the $7 million World Golf Championship series event.