CARLSBAD, Calif. -- For the second time in three years, Davis Love III finds himself in the 36-hole finale of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

And as he tees it up against Geoff Ogilvy at La Costa on Sunday to decide the dispensation of the $1.3 million first prize, Love hopes he doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

His opponent two years ago was Tiger Woods, and Love held the upper hand throughout most of the morning segment. But he failed to get up and down for birdie from the greenside bunker at No. 18, and his 2-up advantage dwindled to one when the two men broke for lunch.

Woods found his swing on the range during the break that day, and Love lost his touch with the putter. Two holes into the afternoon 18, Woods had squared the match and Love never challenged again.

“Match play you’ve got to keep your man down or keep him thinking you’re not really going to give him a chance,” Love said Saturday afternoon as he contemplated another shot at the title that eluded him.

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“I learned a lot (that day), and learned a lot already this week about how to handle being 3 up and not being 3 up and being patient and coming back and winning and hanging in with every shot. … You just have to be patient and keep grinding.

“I think I knew that in 2004, I just didn’t apply it very well.”

Love did on Saturday, though. He may have let Padraig Harrington back into their quarterfinal match in the morning when he bogeyed the 17th hole but Love responded by holing a wedge for eagle at the next to seal the 1-up win.

“(Padraig) was laughing at me because I didn’t know where to go after it went in,” Love said. “I started walking over the bridge (to get the ball). He was stunned, like I was, that it ended that fast.”

Love, who earned his spot in the finals with a 4 and 2 win over Zach Johnson, also came up with a clutch birdie to beat Chris DiMarco in the third round. He had come to the 16th just 2 up after two straight bogeys but staked his tee shot to 13 inches for the win.

Love shot 6 under in his semifinal victory over Johnson that boosted his Accenture Match Play Championship record to 18-7. He also has a 4-1-1 record in singles in Presidents Cup action and a 3-1-2 mark in the Ryder Cup.

Ogilvy, on the other hand, is playing in his first Accenture Match Play Championship. A year ago on Sunday, the Aussie was in Arizona where he birdied the second playoff hole to beat Mark Calcavecchia and Kevin Na at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson.