Nick O’Hearn thought he was toast when Tiger Woods stood over a match-winning 4-foot putt on the first hole of a playoff at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Tiger had trailed by four holes but made a furious comeback despite a day of substandard ball striking.
“I wasn’t watching, to be honest with you,” O’Hern told the Associated Press. “I was just waiting for the sound of the ball going into the hole.”
Tiger missed. The world of golf recoiled in horror.
On the following hole Tiger pulled a 4-iron approach and made bogey. After being bunkered, O’Hern rolled in a 12-foot par putt to win the match.
Did Tiger choke?
I don’t know. He said he forgot to fix a ball mark. He admitted he didn’t have control of his golf ball, hitting it left, right, left. Whatever you call it, Tiger had a bad day on the golf course.
Meanwhile, the short-hitting Aussie southpaw is the only professional to ever beat Tiger twice in match play. O’Hern has never even trailed Woods.
Hmm … twice in match play … never trailed …
Maybe Paul Azinger could tweak the rules once more to allow Nick O’Hern to play on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Just a crazy thought.
The Armchair Golfer
(Photo: PGATour.com/au)
Australia started out as a British Colony. So, I’d say Nick Faldo is trying to find a way to get O’Hern on his team for 2008 🙂
Not that the European team needs any additional help beating the US team.