European Tour member Peter O’Malley produced the performance of the day in the first round of the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play with a stunning victory over World Number One and top seed Tiger Woods.
Not many people at the sunkissed La Costa Resort & Spa gave the 36 year old Australian a chance of progressing but the winner of last season’s Compass Group English Open produced a performance as hot as the Californian weather to rightfully book his place in the last 32.
In total ten European Tour Members lived to fight another day, including the South African duo of Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, currently first and second on the Volvo Order of Merit, who both won 4 and 3. But it was O’Malley who grabbed the limelight.
One down after seven holes, the Australian refused to buckle and when he took the eighth and ninth with birdies to turn one ahead, Woods knew he was in for a battle. O’Malley let a chance to increase his lead slip by at the 12th when his birdie putt from five feet horse-shoed round the hole but he made no mistake at the 13th and 15th to move three up with three to play.
Woods brought roars of delight from the galleries with a winning 25 foot birdie putt at the 16th to keep alive his faint hopes of a comeback, but O’Malley finally snuffed that out on the 17th green, rolling in his own birdie effort from ten feet to claim a glorious scalp.
“I honestly can’t say I was expecting it,” admitted O’Malley. “I thought if I played well I had a chance, but no-one really expected me to win so I didn’t have any pressure on me. So in a way, I feel like, I’ve done that bit, now I have to focus on the next guy because every game is going to be tough this week.”
Having beaten the number one seed, O’Malley can rightfully believe he can go all the way, a feeling encouraged by the fact that the number two and three seeds, Phil Mickelson and David Duval, also lost, Mickelson going down 3 and 2 to John Cook while Duval went to the 20th before succumbing to Kevin Sutherland. In the second round, O’Malley now faces former Open Champion Nick Price after the Zimbabwean beat Angel Cabrera 2 and 1.
Having had three winners in four weeks on The European Tour, the success story continued for South African golf as both Goosen and Els booked their place in the last 32.
Goosen, last year’s Volvo Order of Merit winner and US Open Champion, was never behind after winning the first two holes against Billy Mayfair before eventually running out a comfortable 4 and 3 winner, a score replicated by compatriot Els against Jeff Sluman, Els also never behind in his match.
Other European Tour Members to take their place in the last 32 were Niclas Fasth, Sergio Garcia, Paul McGinley, José Maria Olazábal, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh and Lee Westwood, all too strong for their respective opponents, Michael Campbell, Lee Janzen, Joe Durant, Justin Leonard, Bernhard Langer, Toru Taniguchi and Shingo Katayama.
The wins produced a number of interesting match-ups in the second round, two of the most intriguing seeing Goosen face Olazábal while Singh tackles Fasth.
However, one of the most delighted players to progress was McGinley, who lost in the first round of the event last year in Australia, and whose win eventually gave some cheer to the Irish contingent who had earlier seen both Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington go out.
Clarke, the victor over Tiger Woods in the 2000 Final at La Costa, could not reproduce the same kind of putting form he showed two years ago and, despite being inside opponent Matt Gogel on 14 of the 17 greens they contested, the Ulsterman still went down 2 and 1.
Harrington held sway in the early stages of his match with Steve Flesch but four birdies in a row from the American from the eighth, turned the tide and the Irishman eventually lost 3 and 2, joining fellow European Tour Members Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, John Daly, Pierre Fulke, Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie, Colin Montgomerie and Phillip Price on the way home.
But there was no such woe for McGinley who grabbed the lead for the first time in his match against Joe Durant on the sixth hole with a birdie three and he never looked back. Three further birdies followed as the 35 year old Dubliner took control of matters before finally closing out the match on the 14th green, 5 and 4.
McGinley revealed a vision which had come to him overnight in his sleep had played a large part in his success.
“I use a very light putter normally and when I putted here in practice on Monday I didn’t putt very well,” he said. “That night I went to bed and when I wakened up, the only thing that was in my head, was the fact I had to get a mallet putter – obviously my subconscious was working throughout the night!
“Anyway, I went to the van on the range and, sure enough, there was one made up to my perfect length, 33 inches, and with about five degrees loft on it which is perfect for these greens. It was also very heavy which I thought I needed to have here too.
“So I took it out, used it in practice and used it again today and it worked beautifully. I was a bit apprehensive because I haven’t changed putters in about a year but I putted really well. So thank you subconscious!”
It looked for long spells likely that McGinley’s reward for victory would be a second round match against reigning Open Champion David Duval as the 30 year old American moved two up on fellow countryman Kevin Sutherland with two to play.
But Sutherland, the number 62 seed in the event, shocked the number three ranked player with birdies at the final two holes to take the match into extra time before repeating the feat at the 526 yard second hole to win.
Completing a day of surprises was the exit of defending champion Steve Stricker, who beat Pierre Fulke in the final at the Metropolitan Golf Club twelve months ago, but who fell at the first hurdle this time round, going down 3 and 2 to Chris DiMarco.
