Stricker the Last American

Steve Stricker continued his run through the Match Play Championship today, winning on the 20th hole to reach the semifinals and ending an even more improbable journey by Nick O’Hern.

Stricker holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole to stay in the match, then won it on the 20th with an approach into three feet as O’Hern found trouble off the tee.

Top-seeded Ernie Els also got through to the semifinals later today, putting like a two-time U.S. Open champion to hold off Craig Stadler, 1-up.

Els was to play Sweden’s Pierre Fulke, who defeated Brad Faxon on the 19th hole.

Stricker, at No. 55 the lowest-seeded player to reach the semifinals, was to play Toru Taniguchi, who defeated Shigeki Maruyama, 2 and 1.

The play was lethargic compared to the first three rounds, but no less exciting. Stricker and Els both required clutch putts to survive.

Clinging to a one-hole lead, Els made five consecutive crucial putts to keep his cushion and then buried Stadler with an 18-foot birdie on the final hole.

All Stadler could do was aim his putter at Els like a shotgun. He retrieved Els’ ball from the cup and playfully flung it down the fairway.

“It wasn’t a very pretty match, but it was a good one,” said Stadler, who received $150,000 for reaching the quarterfinals.

It was the third consecutive day Els was forced to go the distance, and he has come up with crucial putts every time.

“From No. 14 on, I had to make a a putt on every hole,” Els said, and that’s what he did.

He made a curling five-footer on the 14th, then a six-footer on the next hole when he hit his 75-foot birdie putt too hard. The 16th required a five-foot par putt that was downhill and swung sharply to the right. But the biggest putt was on No. 17.

Els hit into the right bunker and was shocked when his blast out checked up some 10 feet from the hole. He made that par putt too.

“I putted myself out of trouble,” Els said. “That’s something I learned from Tiger. He hangs in there. You’re not always going to play the way you want to play.”

O’Hern was trying to continue his Cinderella story--from No. 103 in the world ranking, to 39th alternate in the World Golf Championship, and almost to the semifinals.

Stricker, who had never trailed in any of his first three matches, never led until the 20th and final hole against the Australian.