Garcia Loses His Grip, Is Ousted

When he made a hole in one Wednesday, Scott McCarron’s bar tab was $459. How many of his buddies accounted for the bill?

“Uh, two?” McCarron said.

Let the record show that McCarron’s posse is larger than that, and come to think of it, so is his still-growing payday at the $5.5-million Accenture Match Play Championship. So far, just by reaching today’s quarterfinals against Tom Lehman at La Costa, McCarron has already bagged $342,000. And to think the tournament is four days old.

Of course, it didn’t even last that long for a bunch of people, including Sergio Garcia, who thought he should have beaten McCarron but didn’t, mainly because he didn’t make enough putts.

“[McCarron] was fortunate to get the right bounces on the greens,” said Garcia, who lost, 1-up, Friday.

It’s not often that you hear players talking about hoping for the right bounces on the greens, but that’s sort of been the story around here. Nearly every putt has been an adventure in rolling, an experience caused by the combination of soft greens and the poa annua grass that covers them.

David Toms, who posted a 1-up victory over Steve Flesch, was asked the difference between Bermuda greens and poa annua greens. “I make putts on Bermuda, I don’t make putts on poa,” he said.

Possibly, but Toms made just enough putts to get by Flesch to arrange a morning match against Kevin Sutherland, who defeated Jim Furyk, 4 and 3.

But whatever it took for Toms to win, he still wasn’t nearly as fortunate as Paul Azinger, who somehow defeated Niclas Fasth in 20 holes. Azinger drilled a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 4, birdied four of the last five holes, including a chip-in at the 17th, watched Fasth miss an eight-footer that would have ended it at the 18th and withstood enough pressure to wilt the flowers on his Tommy Bahama shirt.

“I thought I lost,” Azinger said.

He thought wrong. Someone else who thought Azinger had lost was Fasth, who said he had never played better in his life and still managed to get beat. Said Fasth: “Losing makes it not such a great week.”

Some weeks are like that. Meanwhile, the show goes on, with seven of the eight remaining golfers Americans. Azinger will play Bob Estes next after Estes got off to a big early lead over Nick Price and then held on to win, 1-up. Brad Faxon, who defeated John Cook, 3 and 2, takes on Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, a 2-up winner over Mark Calcavecchia. Faxon hasn’t had a match extend beyond the 16th hole. Tom Lehman took advantage when Matt Gogel bogeyed the last three holes and scored a 4-and-3 victory, which moved him into a showdown with McCarron.

Lehman called himself a big fan of the match-play setup and isn’t buying any criticism of the format.

“Well, I think it’s crazy,” he said. “I mean, maybe the TV doesn’t like it so much that Tiger is not here, but what the heck? If Pete Sampras loses in the first round, he doesn’t keep on playing until he makes it to the finals. That’s the way sports is ... the top guy can lose to the bottom guy and that’s the beauty of sport.”

It will be a busy day at La Costa, where only two players will be undefeated by sundown. There are four quarterfinal matches in the morning, then two semifinal matches in the afternoon to set up Sunday’s 36-hole final.

That’s the format, including the poa annua greens, which tend to upset the player because they sometimes grow unevenly, a situation that worsens during play. At stake is a $1-million paycheck for the winner.

Still being in the running continues a better-than-average moneymaking run for McCarron, who earned $276,267 last week when he was second at the Nissan Open.

In the last nine days, he’s made $618,267 and hasn’t had to win a tournament to do it.

But to get this far, to defeat Garcia, McCarron had to tune out all related distractions, such as watching Garcia grip and regrip his club. Azinger had called to remind him so, but McCarron already knew what to do.

“I didn’t watch one shot,” McCarron said. “I watched the tops of the trees, the clouds, stared at blades of grass, got some water, read the newspaper.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Match Makers

Today’s pairings for the Match Play Championship at La Costa Resort:

Fourth Round

* 8:20 a.m.--Bob Estes, U.S., vs. Paul Azinger, U.S.

* 8:30 a.m.--Scott McCarron, U.S., vs. Tom Lehman, U.S.

* 8:40 a.m.--Brad Faxon, U.S., vs. Jose Maria Olazabal, Spain

* 8:50 a.m.--Kevin Sutherland, U.S., vs. David Toms, U.S.

Fifth Round

* 11:55 a.m.--Bob Estes-Paul Azinger winner, vs. Scott McCarron-Tom Lehman winner.

* 12:05 p.m.--Brad Faxon-Jose Maria Olazabal winner, vs. Kevin Sutherland-David Toms winner.