Match Play Golf Championship : O’Grady, Silent but Deadly on 18th, Defeats Watson

Mac O’Grady dropped an 18-foot par putt on the 18th hole and upset defending champion Tom Watson, 1 up, Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Seiko Tucson Match Play championship.

O’Grady, as he has done before, refused to be interviewed by reporters and declined to discuss his match with PGA Tour officials.

“He just played better than I did,” Watson said. “He was four under for the day, I was two under.

“I thought I had a chance to send it to extra holes, but he made that long par putt on the 18th, and that was it.”

O’Grady, 34, also declined to be interviewed when he led through the first three rounds of the Byron Nelson tournament at Dallas in May. He told tour officials at that time he had been misquoted in earlier interviews.

O’Grady, who made 17 attempts at the tour’s qualifying school before gaining his playing rights in 1983, will play Jim Thorpe in the semifinals this morning, and Bob Tway will play Jack Renner. The winners advance to the final match this afternoon, competing for a top prize of $150,000.

Tway, 26, who upset Lanny Wadkins in first-round play, birdied the first four holes and eliminated Danny Edwards, 6 and 5, in the quarterfinals. Thorpe beat Mark Wiebe by the same margin. Renner advanced with a 4-and-3 decision over Phil Blackmar.

In Seniors Tour quarterfinals, heavily favored Peter Thomson of Australia hit his second shot into the water on the 18th hole and lost to South African Harold Henning, 1 up.

“It was a case of David slaying Goliath,” Henning said. “That man has been a Goliath on the Seniors Tour this year, winning nine tournaments.”

Defending senior champion Gene Littler had to go two extra holes before eliminating Jim Ferree, 1 up; Lee Elder beat Gay Brewer, 5 and 4, and Dan Sikes defeated Doug Ford, 4 and 3, in the other senior quarterfinals. Elder will play Henning, and Sikes will go against Littler in the senior semifinals this morning, with the winners advancing to the afternoon final.