Virginia Water, England ? The putt wasn’t even halfway to the hole when Tiger Woods turned away in disgust, removed his cap and walked over to shake hands with Shaun Micheel. One round, and his tournament was over. And for the first time in two months, he left without a trophy.

The longest winning streak in Woods’ career – five tournaments – came to an abrupt end Thursday in the World Match Play Championship when Micheel put him in a deep hole and waited to see if the world’s No. 1 player could escape. Woods’ last hope was a 15-foot birdie putt, and like so many other putts at Wentworth, it never had a chance. The score was 4 and 3, tying Woods’ worst beating in match play.

“I don’t think you’re ever excited when you’ve lost,” Woods said.

The winning streak began some four hours away in Hoylake when Woods captured the British Open. Then came a three-shot victory in the Buick Open, followed by his 12th career major at the PGA Championship, a playoff victory in the Bridgestone Invitational and his 63 in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship to rally from three shots to beat Vijay Singh.

The only thing more surprising than Woods’ losing was the company he kept on his way out the door.

Jim Furyk, who rose to No. 2 in the world by winning the Canadian Open on Sunday, got hammered by Robert Karlsson, 6 and 4. Also losing was Ernie Els, a six-time winner of the HSBC World Match Play Championship. Els tried to rally against Angel Cabrera, but hit two tee shots out of play on the 17th hole and conceded the match, 2 and 1.

Only two of the top seeds in the 16-man field advanced to the second round and kept alive their hopes of golf’s richest prize – 1 million pounds ($1.87 million) to the winner. Defending champion and top-seeded Michael Campbell dispatched Simon Khan, 3 and 1, and Luke Donald (No. 7) outlasted Tim Clark, 2 up.

In other matches, Paul Casey beat two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, 6 and 4; Colin Montgomerie beat David Howell, 1 up; and former Masters champion Mike Weir defeated Adam Scott, 3 and 2.