21 Mar Match Play – Me Versus Him!
Match Play
With the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play on this week in Austin, Texas, I get to talk about my favorite format of the game… Match Play.
I love it, pure and simple. There’s nothing like going head to head with an opponent to see who comes out on top. It’s probably why I love tennis so much because in that sport you only have to beat one person at a time, rather than 140 or so in a regular golf tournament.
Quarter Finals…
Growing up, match play was part of my golfing calendar on a regular basis. Playing for my home club Mt Lawley, I couldn’t wait for each Sunday to roll around to pit my game against someone else’s during pennant season. Those matches sharpened my match play skills from a young age that would serve me well when I revisited the format later in the pro ranks at the World Match Play Championships each year. I had a pretty good record over the years too, making the quarter-finals on four occasions. Not bad for a short hitting lefty from Perth, Australia.
Here’s an excerpt from my book, ‘Tour Mentality—Inside the Mind of a Tour Pro’, on one of my most memorable achievements in the format.
Twelve feet. That’s all. Twelve lousy, bloody feet!
That was the length putt I faced on the 20th hole to defeat Tiger Woods in the 2007 WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona. Earlier, I’d been four up through seven holes after taking advantage of his erratic play at the start of our match. Then the charge came. I’d been expecting it all along because I figured he’d somehow find a way to get his game back on track. He went on a birdie binge when par was a good score, given the near-freezing weather conditions. It was like trying to hold back the tide. After I made a sloppy bogey on the 15th hole, we were back to all square. We halved the 16th with pars, then I holed a crucial ten-footer for birdie on the 17th to go one up with one to play. On 18 I made a steady par, while Tiger did what he seems to do routinely. With the match on the line, he slotted an eight-foot putt for birdie to send us into extra holes. I haven’t seen anyone better than him when it comes to holing a must-make putt. I’d prepared myself for the 19th hole even before he’d putted out because I’d seen him do it countless times before.
We went back to where the day had started: the first hole, a long and slightly downhill par 5 favoring the big hitter if he was accurate. Tiger hit two good shots just short of the green while I had a wedge left for my third. I hit my approach to 25 feet, and Tiger chipped up to 5 feet. My birdie putt looked in all the way but somehow melted over the right edge and stayed out. I walked over to the side of the green to face the inevitable.
My caddy, Wilbur, saw the look on my face and said, “Hey, mate, we’re still in this.” He tried to give me a new ball for the next hole, but I just waved it off, saying, “He doesn’t miss these.” But somehow he did, later blaming a pitch mark on his line he didn’t see. I couldn’t care less what it was; I was still alive!
So here we were, standing on the green of our 20th hole for the day, a par 4 getting longer by the minute in the cold. After both of us hit our approaches into the greenside bunker, I managed to sneak my third shot just inside his on the green. Tiger had 15 feet left for par and just missed on the low side. Now I had a putt of 12 feet to become the only man to defeat the world number one twice in match play and also end his record run at Byron Nelson’s eleven consecutive PGA Tour wins. This would be his seventh in a row. Was I nervous? Absolutely! Suddenly that four-and-a-quarter-inch hole seemed to shrink in size as I began thinking about what was in front of me. I could feel the world around me closing in as my heartbeat began to reach its uppermost limits. The dark places in my mind started coming to the fore, and I questioned if I had what it took to finish what I’d started. Fortunately, I remembered to do what I’d always done before hitting a shot. I asked myself, “What do I have to do right now?”
I went through my routine and calmly knocked the putt in for the win. On the outside, I gave a gentle fist pump, shook Tiger’s hand, and thanked him for the game.
On the inside, I was going friggin’ nuts!
Cheers,
Nick
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