Love magic too much for Harrington

Davis Love came up with a moment of magic today to put Padraig Harrington out of the Accenture world match play championship at the quarter-final stage for the second time in three years in California.

Love dramatically holed his 111-yard pitch to the final green for an eagle three, after Harrington had just completed a recovery from three down to all square.

With Harrington having pitched to 12 feet on the hole, the Americans shot landed beyond the flag but then spun back in.

It left David Howell as the only European survivor from the record 17 who began the £4.3m tournament – but minutes later the Swindon golfer was out as well when Australian Geoff Ogilvy sank a 20-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole.

Howell, seeded 12th, had become the highest-ranked player left in following the defeat of Retief Goosen to American Zach Johnson – but he lost after being one up with one to play.

Ogilvy fired a spectacular 259-yard second on to the 18th green – in its way every bit as good a shot as Love’s moments later – and his two-putt birdie enabled him to square matters with Howell, just short in two, missing from 12 feet.

Incredibly, when 52nd seed Ogilvy then claimed victory it was the fourth time in four games he had won this week in sudden death.

Although he had had to work overtime again, he had to wait to discover his semi-final opponent would be American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman.

Determined to try to play his way into his own team – he will then have to decide what to do about it – 46-year-old Lehman beat Tiger Woods’ conqueror Chad Campbell at the 21st.

It looked as though Campbell had won when he sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th, but Lehman followed him in from 20 feet and got his reward three holes later.

The semi-final line-up for the afternoon was therefore Lehman versus Ogilvy and Love v Johnson.

Unhappy with his form all week, Harrington lost three of the first four holes to Love but finally found some form.

He still trailed by two with four to go but birdied the 15th from five feet and took the 17th when Love made a mess of his chip from over the green.

Although Harrington was soon to go out to the shot of the week, nobody had been more surprised than the Irishman that he had managed wins over Rod Pampling, Angel Cabrera and then world number two Vijay Singh to make it into the weekend.

“It’s amazing I’m still here,” he said before facing Love.

“I only have poor expectations. I’m losing focus even before I take the club away – my routine is in pieces.

“That’s what you lose when you take a winter break, and I need weeks of practice.”

Last week’s event in Malaysia was his first since before Christmas.

What had happened in the earlier rounds, he felt, was that he had brought his opponents down to his level.

“I don’t think I’m helping their game. Vijay would probably have played better if I’d played better.”

Love was not affected in the same way, however.

Harrington said: "It's actually not a tough way to lose. It's a good way if you're going to.

“I was expecting Davis to get up and down and I’d have to hole mine. I was prepared for that, but maybe not for him holing out.

“I played better, but it’s hard to give him three holes – pity about that.”

Howell said: “The 17th was obviously a big moment. But I didn’t stamp my authority on the front nine, and that’s where I needed to. He drove terribly, and I just didn’t take advantage.

“It’s disappointing really after being one up one to play. I just ran out of gas.

“I’ve had a good week, but there’s no one out there at the moment that you feel you couldn’t beat. All the big guns are gone, and I fancied my chances.”

He and Harrington each earned £137,907. But the four who were left were guaranteed more than £250,000, and the winner takes home almost £750,000.

Howell and Ogilvy shared eight holes in par on the outward half and the only hole to change hands was the fourth, where Howell could not recover from pulling his drive into trouble.

The Englishman’s putting became inspired on the back nine. He two-putted from long range for a winning birdie at the long 11th, saved halves from 16ft at the 13th and 15th, then holed from similar range to take the lead for the first time on the next.

He had a 12ft chance to win on the 17th but missed that and Ogilvy, bunkered in two, saved a half with an eight-footer before conjuring up a marvellous finish to take his place in the last four.

Lehman was one up on Campbell with four to play and saved a remarkable half on the 15th after driving into the lake.

His pitch to four feet there was followed by a bogey on the short 16th, but his putt on the last kept his hopes alive and he was not to be denied.

Johnson, the US Tour’s Rookie of the Year two seasons ago, had four birdies in the next six holes to lead, went two up by making a 14-footer on the 15th and won when third seed Goosen missed the green at the short 16th and failed to get up and down.

The four survivors were seeded 23rd, 41st, 52nd and 59th – Love, Lehman, Ogilvy and Johnson respectively.

Nothing more needed to be said about the unpredictable nature of 18-hole match play.