Missed putts cost Tiger in Match Play
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-26 09:25

Tiger Woods stood off the edge of the 17th green with his arms folded across his chest, body language that spoke volumes about the end of his two-year reign in the Match Play Championship.

As unpredictable as this format can be, Woods should have seen this coming.

Beware the unknown Aussie.

Nick O'Hern, a lefty from Down Under playing in the United States for only the fourth time, turned in the biggest surprise Friday by easily eliminating the No. 2 seed and two-time defending champion.

Tiger Woods, left, congratulates Nick O'Hern after O'Hern defeated Woods 3 and 1 in the second round of the the World Match Play Championship Friday Feb. 25, 2005 in Carlsbad, California, the USA. [AP]

"If you had said that to me two months ago," O'Hern said, his voice trailing off. "This is a great result for me."

It was the first time Woods lost in the Accenture Match Play Championship since another unheralded Aussie, Peter O'Malley, knocked him out in the first round three years ago. That match also went only 17 holes.

"I didn't make the putts," Woods said. "That's the difference between winning and losing a match."

O'Hern wrapped up his 3-and-1 victory with a 25-foot birdie putt that only had to get close to the hole. In one of the few times the Aussie was in the rough, he gouged it out of the thick grass and under a tree to the back of the green, meaning Woods had to stuff it close to have any chance.

Instead, he went into a bunker and wasted no time blasting out, leaving it 15 feet short.

That ended his 13-match winning streak at La Costa, and with Vijay Singh having already been dispatched by Jay Haas, it cost Woods another opportunity to reclaim No. 1 in the world ranking.

But his problems started long before that.

O'Hern quickly grabbed the lead with a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 second. Woods hit a wedge into the par-5 third that hopped behind the hole, and spun back over the edge of the cup to about 3 feet away. But the birdie putt caught the right lip, a familiar sight, and O'Hern was 2 up.

The only bright spot for Woods, and really the only time his power became a factor, came on the 332-yard sixth hole, where the tees had been moved forward. He played a power fade that landed in the shaggy rough and came down the slope to 15 feet, one of only three holes Woods won in the match.

What followed was more birdie chances that bobbed along the spongy surface of the green and teased Woods by running over the edge of the cup or lipping out.

He stood erect and covered his eyes. He turned his head and cursed under his breath.

"Tiger was unlucky with some putts, where he hit a lot of good putts and they didn't go in," O'Hern said.

He was being gracious.

The greens were bumpy for everyone, and O'Hern missed his share of putts that might have ended this match much earlier than the 17th hole.

The only time O'Hern didn't have command of his game was toward the end of the match. He had to save par from a bunker on the 14th hole, and made of mess of the 15th as his lead dropped to two holes.

"I thought if I could get to 18 somehow, I would have the advantage on 18," Woods said of the par 5. "But I just didn't quite get it done."

Woods got the weekend off before playing next week in Doral.

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