CARLSBAD, Calif. – Australia’s Stuart Appleby will tee it up in his 21st career World Golf Championships event on Wednesday when he faces Tom Lehman in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Appleby has played in every event since the series’ inception in 1999. Justin Leonard and Padraig Harrington are second with 19 appearances each.

Appleby, while proud of the streak, was blunt in his overall assessment of his play in 20 previous starts that include four top-10s.

“It would be nice to win one, certainly sooner than later,” he said.

The winner of the Mercedes Championships, the season-opening event on the PGA TOUR, has one top-10 in seven previous Accenture Match Play Championship starts, a tie for ninth in 2001. Overall, Appleby’s match-play record is 4-7, including a second-round loss to Ian Poulter last year.

Appleby said that a change in strategy may be in the works when he tees off at 10:43 a.m. (ET) to play the U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

“Just (play) more aggressive and put the pressure on more,” he said. “You have to play aggressive and have your game. And if you don’t have your game, you’ve got to hope the other guy has less game.”

Hoping for “less game” from the other guy can be a key component to winning the Accenture Match Play Championship.

“Sometimes you run into a bus, and you can’t do anything about that,” Appleby said. “You just hope you don’t have those (types of matches). Stroke play is all about 72 holes, and as Tiger (Woods) has said, you try and put yourself in position on the back nine on Sunday.

“There is no back nine on Sunday in this tournament. It’s all over in a heartbeat if you get somebody that’s doing the right things. It’s a weird event mentally because you never know how long the week is going to be.”

Appleby said drier conditions this year at the La Costa Resort & Spa course will put a premium on driving accuracy, but as always, putting will determine the eventual outcome.

“It will still boil down to making putts,” he said. “Every tournament is about that. Nobody wins a tournament (when you’re) putting average -- nobody in the history of golf has done that. But you can hit the ball average and still win tournaments.”

Statistics from the 2006 PGA TOUR season spell out Appleby’s theory – as three of the seven champions so far have led the field in putts per round, including Appleby in his Mercedes Championships victory.

Appleby’s wife Ashley is set to give birth for the second time next week, and he is scheduled to take the next two weeks off to spend time with his growing family. He hopes that respite begins on Sunday afternoon, complete with some new World Golf Championships hardware to show his newborn.