Woods retains Match play title

Tiger Woods tonight retained his Accenture Match Play Championship title with victory over Davis Love in California.

Woods twice trailed his Ryder Cup team-mate by two holes but won three in a row in the afternoon round on his way to a 3&2 win in the 36-hole final at La Costa.

Tiger Woods tonight retained his Accenture Match Play Championship title with victory over Davis Love in California.

Woods twice trailed his Ryder Cup team-mate by two holes but won three in a row in the afternoon round on his way to a 3&2 win in the 36-hole final at La Costa.

The 1.2 million US dollars first prize took Woods’ earnings from World Golf Championship (WGC) events to more than US$10 million. The world number one has now won nine of the 16 events he has entered since their inception in 1999.

He is the only player to win all four of the WGC’s annual events, having completed the clean sweep here 12 months ago. Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, the winner in 2000 and 2003 NEC Invitational champion, is the only other player to have won more than one WGC title.

It was Woods' third final in five appearances in the event, and his record now reads played 23, won 20, lost three.

In the play-off for third and fourth place, Clarke completed an excellent week’s work with a two-hole victory over Australia’s Stephen Leaney.

Clarke, who blew a two-hole lead with two to play against Love in Saturday’s semi-finals, was two down with six to play but birdied the 13th and 16th on his way to victory.

The Ulsterman therefore took home a cheque for $530,000 and with it a likely place in the top 10 of the world rankings, while Leaney had the consolation of $430,000 for his efforts.

Love looked like taking a handy lead after the morning round but Woods crucially birdied the final hole, smashing a drive and long iron onto the 558-yard par five to go into lunch just one down.

In fact, Woods had little time for lunch as he headed for the practice range to try and sort out his errant driving, and although he was still occasionally wayward from the tee, his iron play eventually put him in a commanding position.

A bogey from Love on the 20th hole allowed Woods back on level terms, and the world number one went in front for the first time with a stunning birdie on the seventh.

Another poor drive left him almost in the same spot as during the morning round, but this time he was far enough away from the trees to have a shot to the green and blasted an amazing recovery to 12 feet and holed the putt for birdie.

That took him into the lead for the first time in the match and he went two ahead on the next with another birdie from four feet.

A par four was good enough to win the ninth and make it three holes in a row, and at three up with nine to play Woods was in complete command.

It had not been a vintage performance from Woods however, who made a mess of the very first hole. He pulled his drive onto the top of a bunker and hit an even worse second which was lucky to stop just 10ft short of the lake some 50 yards short of the green.

From the thick rough he was unable to reach the green in three, and after finally finding the putting surface, watched as Love rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt anyway.

The defending champion got back on level terms at the third, hitting a superb approach to two feet for a simple birdie which Love could not match, but went behind again on the next after hitting the pin with his recovery from a greenside bunker but missing the par putt from four feet.

The world number one was soon level again however, Love three-putting from long range on the sixth, but he then gifted Love the lead once more on the seventh.

Having driven into the right rough, Woods tried to do too much with his second shot and hit the tree in front of him, and then fired his third through the green before conceding the hole.

Woods’ birdie attempt on the ninth lipped out and Love missed a good chance from nine feet to extend his lead, but made no such mistake on the next from twice the distance to go two clear for the first time.

The 11th was a classic example of the way fortunes can fluctuate during just one hole in match play, and it was a potential turning point in the contest.

Woods hooked his tee shot and was within 10ft of going out of bounds, but found a good lie and was able to get back onto the fairway.

Love could reach the green in two with a long iron after a perfect drive, but dumped his approach into a greenside bunker.

Woods then hit his third to 17ft and holed a treacherous downhill putt for birdie, while Love splashed out of the bunker to four feet and missed.

From looking odds-on favourite to go three up, Love was only one ahead, and that lead was wiped out minutes later on the 12th when Woods holed from 10ft for birdie.

The standard of play sometimes left a lot to be desired, the 14th was halved in bogey fives after both players three-putted, but Love then played a superb tee shot to just two feet on the 16th and went two up for the second time in the match with a 25ft birdie on the next.

Love had been the first person all week to reach the par-five 18th in two in his semi-final win over Clarke, but Woods reduced the 558-yard hole to a drive and long iron to set up his fifth birdie of the round.

Love was unable to match it after finding a greenside bunker with his approach, his seven-foot birdie attempt sliding past the hole.

Woods said: “It was tough. Davis played a good solid match today. I was not striking the ball that well, especially off the tee, but I hung in there and made a lot of putts which either kept the momentum or turned it to me.

“I was in quite a few places where I was in trouble but the putter is the great equaliser and it proved it today.” The final was marred by heckling from one spectator towards Love, who admitted he was ready to stop playing until the offender was ejected.

“It definitely affected me because he did it when I was preparing to hit shots,” said Love.

“He was not here to watch golf and once we narrowed it down where he was we got rid of him. I was not going to play any more (until he was ejected) because he had already cost me one hole. The second hole this afternoon I hit an awful shot because he rattled me and I was not going to put up with it. You don’t have to like me or pull for me, just respect me enough to let me play.”

Love lost the second hole this afternoon to be pegged back to all square, and never won another hole after that as Woods took command with three holes in a row from the seventh.