Maggert Chips Off Into the Sunset

It’s clear that five days and 128 holes, 38 on Sunday, were only barely enough to identify the richest match-play golfer in the world. For the record, his name is Jeff Maggert, who played from, oh, just about sunup to just about sundown so he could stuff $1 million into his pants pocket and walk away from La Costa before he toppled over from exhaustion.

Titanium was invented in less time than it took for Maggert to finish off Andrew Magee in the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship, and that didn’t happen until he chipped in from 20 feet on the second extra hole of the afternoon session . . . which followed the morning session . . . which followed last night.

“It was a long day,” Maggert said. “I knew if I could hang in there as long as I could, something good might happen, and it did,” Maggert said.

It was Maggert’s second PGA Tour victory, but his first since 1993. The 35-year-old Texan also broke a semi-unsettling streak of 13 second-place finishes.

“You don’t have to ask me what it feels like to finish second this week,” Maggert said.

Another important point: Maggert moved to the top of the money list at $1,296,000.

He accomplished it all with his 20-foot, uphill, slight left-to-right break chip shot with a sand wedge at No. 11, the second extra hole.

“It was the one shot I was looking for all day long,” Maggert said. “Thank God it happened on the last hole.”

Maggert said he had the pin removed so he could concentrate on the proper speed, then hit the ball too hard and worried momentarily that the ball would keep rolling, all the way to Solana Beach.

“It slowed down, just hit the back of the hole, popped into the air and fell in,” said Maggert, who did play by play on the shot.

Magee, who watched the ball roll closer to the hole, then rattle around and fall in, said he actually got a kick out of that shot.

“That was a great way to end it,” Magee said. “Pretty classic, I thought. I even enjoyed it a little bit, being the weirdo I am.”

Chances are, Magee could have altered his fate. He certainly had enough opportunities since was 2-up after two holes and twice held 3-up leads, after eight holes and 20 holes.

Through the front nine in the morning, Magee was 3-up and he knew it.

“If it was a nine-hole [final], I might have won,” he said.

But it wasn’t a nine-hole final, an 18-hole final, a 27-hole final or even a 36-hole final.

Magee led 23 consecutive holes, until Maggert birdied the 28th hole, No. 10, with a 30-foot putt. “After that, I felt pretty good,” Maggert said.

Both players missed chances to end it on the 37th and 38th holes. All that was left was another chance for Maggert to finish second, which he managed to avoid. As it turned out, he was within a chip shot of his goal.

“I really knew in my heart I was going to win out here again,” Maggert said.

Maggert and Magee weren’t the only ones who got richer Sunday. Also making some very nice money was John Huston, who earned $400,000 for his 5-and-4 victory over Steve Pate in the consolation match. Pate made $300,000 for finishing fourth.

Huston, naturally, said he had a good week. He hopes the same could be said for the tournament.

“I hope the fans receive it well,” Huston said. “Maybe some of them were disappointed that Tiger [Woods] and David [Duval] didn’t get much further.”

If anyone has anything bad to say about match play it’s because there is no guarantee such players as Woods and Duval will be around for the weekend. Neither made it here, in this first $5 million World Golf Championship event. Duval was gone on the first day, Woods lost Friday.

“We’ll see by the TV ratings if anybody watched this or not,” Magee said of the final. “The folks could just kind of put blinders on and think we were Tiger and Duval out there. They wouldn’t know the difference.”

Instead of a duel between No. 1 Woods and No. 2 Duval, it was No. 24 Maggert and No. 50 Magee. Afterward, Magee was asked if that was good for golf. “It was good for me,” he said.

It wasn’t too bad for Maggert, either, especially after what he has gone through, such as his experience on the last hole of the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional, where he four-putted and three-putted coming in when he had a chance at winning.

Along the way, Maggert earned a reputation as a player who couldn’t finish, who couldn’t close the door. That’s the situation Maggert talked about when he said he wanted the victory more than the money.

Magee did not share the same feeling. “I thought about the money all day, absolutely,” he said. “I knew what was at stake. I don’t think it had any effect on the way I played, though.”

The way Maggert played was enough to convince himself he’s good enough to win more, even though others may not be convinced.

“There’s going to be a lot of doubters, for sure,” Maggert said. “But I’ve been around the game a long time. I don’t really care what they say.”

After Sunday, he can afford not to.