When Tiger Woods is clicking on all cylinders, it is something to behold. But when he still wins with valves misfiring and oil leaking on the fairway, it again illustrates why Woods is that much better than the rest.
Woods lamented that he couldn’t drive the ball straight, that his iron game was erratic and that he was missing on the wrong side of the green. To hear him talk, he shouldn’t have made it past the first round.
But as Woods has done many times before, he leaned on what was working, his short game and putting, to win his second straight Accenture Match Play Championship Sunday. He defeated Davis Love III 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final at the La Costa Resort and Spa.
This victory was much different than last year’s, when Woods was the picture of precision in steamrolling the field. With the exception of Friday, Woods struggled with various facets of his game last week.
Woods said if this were a stroke-play event, he never would have won. Match play, though, is different, and nobody does it better.
“It’s certainly more difficult to win the way I did today,” Woods said. “It boils down to what my dad has always told me when it comes to match play. All you have to do is just be better than your opponent that day. That’s it.”
Woods was better than Love on Sunday when it mattered the most. The all-square match turned on the seventh hole of the afternoon round. After hitting his drive behind a tree, he slashed a did-you-see-that? wedge from 158 yards to 12 feet and converted the birdie for a 1-up lead.
Woods then recovered from another bad drive on the par-5 eighth, eventually hitting a wedge to four feet for another birdie and a 2-up lead.
“The only thing I could rely on was my short game and putter,” Woods said. “I had been putting beautifully the last three days and was holing some putts. I knew it was going to come down to that.”
Love then made a mistake with a poor drive on the ninth hole to set up a bogey. Suddenly, he was 3 down, and the match basically was over.
It could have been different if Love had seized the opportunity earlier in the day. He played well in the morning, mounting two 2-up leads. But he never was able to pull away.
“I felt like I should have been 2 or 3 up (after the morning round), and I was only 1 up,” said Love, who didn’t make a birdie over the final 16 holes. “It’s unfortunate because I don’t think I’ve ever driven it in such a perfect position on every hole and not pulled it off. I had him right where I wanted him. I just let him get away.”
Woods is elusive in this format. He is 20-3 in Match Play competition, winning his last 12 matches.
“It’s extremely difficult,” Love said. “He’s obviously the best at what he does, and that shows even more in match play. He’s just an incredible match-play player.”
Again Woods was asked to divulge his match-play secrets. He took the opportunity to tweak reporters who criticized him for losing in the first round to Peter O’Malley two years ago.
“[You were saying]`You’ve won matches in amateur golf and you can’t win them as a pro,'” Woods said.
As usual, Woods silenced the critics in winning his 40th PGA Tour title. And his match-play secret is pretty simple.
“From the first tee on, it’s just eyeball-to-eyeball,” Woods said. “Let’s go, let’s have some fun, let’s compete. That, to me, is exciting.”
World Match Play turning points
A breakdown of Tiger Woods’ 3-and-2 victory over Davis Love III in the Accenture Match Play Championship on Sunday.
Morning 18
No. 9: Love misses eight-foot birdie putt that would have given him a 2-up lead.
No. 11: Love is on the verge of going 3 up with a four-foot birdie putt. But Woods makes 18-footer for birdie. Love then misses his putt, giving hole to Woods. Woods is 1 down.
No. 17: Love drops 30-footer to take a 2-up lead.
No. 18: Woods reaches the par-5 green in two and makes a birdie. Love fails to convert his birdie putt. Woods is only 1 down after the morning round.
Afternoon round
No. 1: Woods makes a 12-footer to save par and halve the hole.
No. 2: Love misses a 10-footer for par. The match is all-square.
No. 7: Woods drives it behind a tree. Love puts his drive in the middle of the fairway. Woods hits wedge to 12 feet and makes birdie putt for first lead.
No. 8: Woods recovers from poor drive with wedge to four feet, setting up another birdie. Love pars, goes 2 down.
No. 9: An errant drive forces Love to pitch out from behind a tree, leading to a bogey. He is 3 down.
No. 10: Woods converts an eight-footer to save par.
No. 11: Love misses a four-footer for birdie.
No. 16: Woods closes out the match with a two-putt for par.
— Ed Sherman
