Woods, O'Meara to play each other in final
VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) -- Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara
will play a little friendly round of golf Sunday -- as they often
do. But this time there'll be more than a few dollars at stake.
The Florida neighbors reached the final of the $290,000 World
Match Play Championship Saturday when Woods defeated Lee Westwood
5 and 4 and O'Meara beat defending champion and PGA champion Vijay
Singh by a record 11 and 10.
It's the first all-U.S. final since 1975 when Hale Irwin beat
Al Geiberger and only the fourth in the tournament's 34-year history.
"This is definitely a great final," Woods said. "It
will be fun playing against one of my best friends, someone I
consider like an older brother, I'll be happy if he wins and he'll
be happy if I win."
They've never played together in the final of a match-play
event or as the final twosome on the final day of a stroke-play
tournament.
"Playing head-to-head, we don't get that chance very often
where we're in the same tournament and just happen to play well
at the same time," Woods said.
O'Meara, who broke the previous tournament record set in 1978
when Tom Watson beat Dale Hayes 11 and 9, suggested it would be
just another round of golf with Woods -- but for more cash.
"We play a lot together," O'Meara said. "He
(Woods) has been playing well at home. I think he took 30 bucks
off me the last time we played.
"I'm pretty smart. I go to the putting green afterwards
and try to go nine, double-or-nothing. I can usually win my money
back on the putting green."
Unlike O'Meara, Woods struggled early with the windy, wet 7,006-yard
West course at Wentworth -- and a nagging flu and a partisan crowd
of 12,000 cheering for the Englishman.
He was down by three holes after the first seven as Westwood
putted well. But he rallied as his putting got better and Westwood's
turned sour to lead by one after 18. He never trailed after that.
Woods went 4-up after 28 holes with a string of birdies, getting
two with 8-foot putts and one at the 28th with a 25-footer.
He increased the lead to five after 30, two-putted from 6 feet
at the 31st for bogey before ending the match at the 32nd with
a birdie -- his seventh one-putt green in eight holes.
"I just had one of those days when the putter felt like
a fish in my hands," said Westwood, who has a chance this
season to dethrone Colin Montgomerie as Europe's leading money
winner.
"The final should be interesting. I know they're friendly,
but they'll probably have the daggers out for each other."
O'Meara, this year's Masters and British Open champion, had
nine birdies over his first 18, including putts of 36, 18, 12
and 10 feet.
He was 11 up after a par at the 20th and went to 12 up with
another par at 21. Singh won the 22nd with a birdie, but O'Meara
closed out the match when they halved the 26th with pars.
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