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CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Davis Love III is
returning to the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship final for
the second time in three years, riding the momentum of a dramatic
18th-hole eagle in the quarterfinals Saturday into the title match.
Love holed out for eagle from 111 yards on the 18th hole to beat Padraig Harrington in the quarterfinals 1-up Saturday morning, then
buried Zach Johnson in the afternoon
with six birdies on his way to a 4 and 2 victory.
Love will play the 36-hole championship match against Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, who won his fourth straight match in extra
holes in the quarterfinals, then had an easy time in beating Tom Lehman in the semifinals, 4 and 3.
Love reached the semifinals in 2000 before he was beaten by Tiger Woods. He reached the final two years ago, then lost again to
Woods. Woods was eliminated from this year's tournament on Friday.
"It's always better not to run up against the world No. 1," Love said.
"But Geoff Ogilvy is playing great.
... I'm not wishing Tiger was here; I'd love to play him again, though."
Ogilvy birdied the last hole in the quarterfinals to go overtime with David Howell of England, then made a 20-foot birdie on the 19th hole
to set a record in the Accenture Match Play Championship with his fourth
consecutive victory that went extra holes.
He beat Lehman on the 15th green with his best golf of the week,
although Ogilvy goes into the championship match having already played
95 holes at La Costa Resort -- the most of any finalist in the
eight-year history.
"There's someone on my side this week," Ogilvy said. "I've dodged a few
bullets."
Love shot 68 in the morning and was 6 under through 16 holes when he
finished off Johnson. In the 85 holes he has played in five rounds, he
has only been behind on four holes.
He fell quickly behind Johnson, pulled even with a 12-foot birdie at No.
4, then took control on the par-5 eighth. Johnson hit into the water
while trying to lay up, but took his drop and stuck the next shot into 5
feet. Love rolled in a 12-foot birdie to win the hole, then hit a 5-iron
from the fairway bunker into 25 feet on the ninth and made that to take
a 2-up lead into the back nine.
Birdies on the 13th and 14th effectively ended the match.
Ogilvy said he feels lucky to even be in the hunt for the $1.3 million
prize from this World Golf Championships event. Ten times this week, his
opponent has stood over a putt to win the match, only to miss and give
Ogilvy renewed hope.
That happened twice Saturday morning. Howell missed 12-foot putts on the
17th and 18th hole.
"When it's out of your control, it's a strange feeling," Ogilvy said.
"This morning it was like, 'Oh, well, when he makes this, I've had a
good week anyway, getting to the quarterfinals. David Howell is a good
player. And then he misses. OK, now I've got to hole my putt to go to
18. Then we got to 19, and I was in my comfort zone again."
In the other quarterfinals, Lehman prevailed over fellow American Chad Campbell in 21 holes and Johnson easily dispatched two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, 3
and 2, ensuring that none of the top 10 seeds would make it to the
finals for the first time since 2002.
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