King of comebacks Ogilvy makes Love pay
He was four up with four holes to play against Davis Love III in the final match, and everyone figured it was over.
Ogilvy knew better.
He was on the other end of a situation even more dire two days earlier. Mike Weir was four up with four holes to play against Ogilvy and had a wedge in his hand in the 15th fairway. That’s when Ogilvy pulled off the greatest escape in the eight-year history of his tournament, winning the next four holes and beating him in overtime.
“It can go the other way, very quick,” Ogilvy said.
But during a wild and wacky week at La Costa Resort, all the great comebacks belonged to Ogilvy.
Love dribbled a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole some four feet by the cup, started to mark the ball and instead removed his cap and conceded to Ogilvy.
The final score was 3 and 2.
The turning point for Love came on the ninth hole, when Ogilvy was in trouble and Love had a chance to square the match with a par. Instead, he sent his 6-iron into the gallery and made bogey.
The defining shot for Ogilvy was two holes later in their afternoon round on Sunday, when he was 1 up and first to hit on the par-5 11th. He hit a 4-iron that dropped gently toward the flag and stopped 6 feet away for an eagle that was conceded when Love went long into a bunker.
“Something was on my side this week,” Ogilvy said.
Wednesday afternoon, Michael Campbell had birdie putts of 30 feet and 12 feet on the final two holes to win the match, missed both, then lost when Ogilvy chipped in from 45 feet on the first extra hole.
The next day, Ogilvy thought it was over when Nick O’Hern made a 30-footer on the 18th to force overtime, then pumped his tee shot into 5 feet on the 20th hole.
“Nick doesn’t miss putts like that,” Ogilvy said. “I had my hat in my hand. I thought it was over. He missed.”
Ogilvy won with a two-putt birdie on the next hole.
Then came the miracle rally against Weir, which Ogilvy won with a fairway metal into 4 feet for eagle on the 21st hole. And against David Howell of England in the quarterfinals, he twice watched Howell stand over 12-foot putts to win and miss them both.
Ten times, all he could was wait to see if he went home or kept playing.
“Every single time in those first four games, my opponent had a putt to knock me out of the tournament,” Ogilvy said. “And no one made one, which is pretty fortunate.”
He was the ultimate survivor at a tournament that requires nothing less.
Ogilvy played 128 holes over six matches, beating Jeff Maggert’s record by one hole for most playing a week at the Match Play Championship.
“Unbelievable,” Ogilvy said after his 3-and-2 victory. “It’s such a hard tournament to believe you’re going to keep going. I got lucky the first four days, and the last two games I played very well.”
Ogilvy had good fortune, and great golf, especially at the end. He earned $1.3 million and moved into the top 30 in the world ranking.
Love also is wondering how this all might have been different.
“It was a good week,” he said. “Obviously, not a good day.”
It was the third time Love reached the semi-finals of the tournament.
Tiger Woods whipped him in the semi-finals in 2000, and beat him in the finals two years ago.
Ogilvy was as tough as anyone, but Love came undone by his own mistakes.
“I always felt like I took the pressure off him,” Love said.
Now he has to wait until next year, when the Match Play Championship moves to Tucson, Arizona, where Ogilvy won a year ago this week.
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