Steve Stricker was thrilled just to be playing in the $5 million Match Play Championship.
The 90th-ranked player in the world got in only because Tiger Woods, David Duval and two dozen others from the top 64 didn’t want to travel to Australia so close to the holidays.
On Sunday, the 55th-seeded Stricker and No. 21 Pierre Fulke play a 36-hole match with $1 million on the line.
“This is unbelievable,” said Stricker, a native of Edgerton, Wis. “To go from thinking I wasn’t going to get into the tournament and to have an opportunity to win . . . I’m trying to take advantage of this situation.”
Stricker became the lowest seed to reach the final with a 2-and-1 victory over Japan’s Toru Taniguchi, seeded 30th.
Taniguchi, 3 down with seven to play, made it exciting with wins on the 12th and 13th holes. But Stricker made an 18-foot par putt on the 15th and stuck it close on the 16th as the Japanese star bogeyed.
Ernie Els, the No. 1 seed, was 2 down to Fulke at No. 17. He was blocked entirely by the trees with 190 yards between him and the putting surface. When he was about to give up, he saw a gap wide enough to take a gamble, split it with a 5-iron and had a 15-foot look at a birdie that he missed. Fulke’s 6-footer won it.
