CARLSBAD, California -- Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson advanced to the third round of the World Matchplay Championship amid pouring rain on Thursday.

Woods, the world number one, easily dispatched South Korea's K.J. Choi five and three, while Mickelson, the world number three, beat Brad Faxon, three and two.

Britain's Darren Clarke reached the final 16 by defeating Davis Love III seven and six while Peter Lonard of Australia also advanced with an impressive five and four win over New Zealand's Phil Tataurangi.

They will be joined by defending champion Kevin Sutherland, who beat 23-year-old Briton Justin Rose one-up, Reuters reported.

Woods, who has yet to make a bogey in two matches, started his second round match just as he did his first, losing the first hole. He squared the match on the second before eventually taking the lead on the fourth. "It was just a day of patience out there," Woods said. "You had to go ahead and deal with the conditions the way they are and accept them, and above all keep the ball in play."

The course was severely affected by a heavy downpour of rain, which resulted in the grounds crew having to remove water from the greens so that play could continue.

Woods' adjustments to the conditions included using longer irons then normal to control the spin and keep the ball on a lower ball flight.

"I had a couple of holes where I had 150, 155 and I hit five-irons," Woods said of distance that he would have normally negotiated with a nine-iron. "You've got to take off the spin or it's going to come ripping off the green."