European Tour hopes of success in the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play disappeared when Peter Lonard and Adam Scott both suffered defeats in thrilling semi-final matches at La Costa Resort & Spa.
The Australian duo battled hard but eventually had to concede to their American opponents, Lonard going down on the final green to the 2001 US PGA Champion David Toms while Scott succumbed to World Number One Tiger Woods on the 19th green after an epic tussle.
Lonard and Scott will now meet in the 18 hole consolation match for third place while Toms and Woods contest the 36 hole final, Toms making his first appearance in the final while Woods will be hoping to go one better than three years ago when he lost to Darren Clarke by 4 and 3.
After having come through his morning quarter-final against Jay Haas by 2 and 1, Scott faced Woods feeling confident and proved that by moving two holes ahead after seven. Woods birdies at the eighth and ninth brought the contest level however and when Scott missed a four foot par putt at the 12th, he fell behind for the first time.
Still one down after 15, Scott looked on as Woods put his tee shot at the 16th a mere 12 inches from the hole but, showing immense courage, the Australian sent his tee shot to 14 feet before holing out for a matching birdie two.
With the 17th halved, Woods came down the last still one ahead but a poor pitch, after his approach shot missed the green, meant he could do no better than par five, Scott’s birdie four from the greenside bunker sending the contest into extra time.
After a moment’s confusion, when both players headed to the first tee only to be informed by tournament officials that for television purposes, they should have been heading to the tenth, both players found the green in two.
With both birdie attempts missed, Woods knocked in his par effort from three and a half feet before Scott could only look on in agony as his par effort from three feet jumped left and stayed above ground.
“It is disappointing to lose and miss such a short putt as that,” said Scott. “I didn’t think I hit that bad a putt but I think it hit something. But I can be pretty happy with the way I played today. One down with three to play and he hits it stiff on the 16th, it is not looking so good so I am pretty proud of myself for taking it this far.
“I have had a great week this week. I said earlier that last year I thought I learned a lot and I think that I need to start making an impact out here rather than just saying it was a good learning experience. I’d rather get out here and win.”
In his morning quarter-final, Lonard recovered from being three down after eight holes to beat Darren Clarke on the home green and when he was three down to Toms after 11 holes and levelled matters by the 17th, history looked to be about to repeat itself.
But Toms, who posted the best record of the entire American team in The 34th Ryder Cup Matches at The De Vere Belfry, winning three and a half points out of five, showed his fighting qualities and his love of a match play battle once again coming down the last.
With both players ten feet away in three, Lonard faced the more difficult downhill putt and saw his birdie effort slip past the hole., It left Toms an uphill birdie putt for the match and he confidently rolled the ball into the centre of the cup.
“I probably didn’t hit enough good shots and when it comes down to it, although I got a few holes back, I also missed a few fairways coming down the stretch and that is always important,” said Lonard.
“But David is a great player and kept it in play pretty much all day and made me sort of try and catch him in the end. We had four or five holes to go and I always felt like I was struggling to get to him and it just wasn’t enough in the end.
“But as I said at the start of the week, this is my first real experience of match play as a professional and so to reach the semi-finals, I think I have done pretty well.”
