Toms to meet DiMarco in final

The stars are gone from the Accenture Match Play Championship.

The Stars & Stripes are doing just fine.

David Toms hit one spectacular shot after another to pull away from Ian Poulter, making back-to-back eagles by holing out from the 10th fairway and hitting 5-wood into 2 feet on the par-5 11th. Toms, who hit every approach shot within 12 feet over the final eight holes, won 3 & 2.

Chris DiMarco recovered from an awful start to beat U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, chipping in for birdie from behind the 14th green for the second time Saturday and winning, 2 & 1.

After 62 matches crammed in over three days, their victories Saturday afternoon set up an All-American final for the fourth consecutive year at La Costa Resort.

Toms and DiMarco will play a 36-hole final Sunday with $1.3 million on the line.

Two-time defending champion Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh were long gone. Their absence left no shortage of sensational golf, particularly from Toms.

He was all square with Poulter, a roller-coaster match in which only two of the first eight holes were halved, when Toms delivered a memorable string of shots.

First came a 5-wood from 192 yards that stopped 4 feet away on the 467-yard ninth, which played as a par 4 on Saturday for the first time this week. Then he took a little off a 9-iron shot from 123 yards in the 10th fairway that spun back into the cup for birdie. And from 235 yards on the par-5 11th, Toms hit another 5-wood that stopped 2 feet away.

Suddenly, he was 3-up against Poulter and headed for the finals for the second time in three years. Toms lost to Woods two years ago, but he has never felt this good about his game.

And he'll certainly hang onto that 5-wood, the same club he used to made an ace in the third round of the 2001 PGA Championship, which he won by one shot over Mickelson.

"I can't seem to find one I can hit any better,'' Toms said.

DiMarco's victory seemed unlikely after he lost the first three holes to Goosen, and stood over a 6-foot par putt on the fifth hole to keep the deficit from getting any worse.

"He got off to a great start,'' DiMarco said. "I was just trying not to lose 8 & 7.''

But Goosen lost a ball in the tree, and DiMarco found his groove on the back nine with four birdies in five holes to pull away. Just when it looked as though he might give back the lead, DiMarco made a 10-foot par putt on the 17th hole, and Goosen three-putted for bogey, missing a 3-footer to end the match.

Next up is Toms, who has steamrolled his way into the finals.

He beat Mickelson in the third round Friday, then was flawless against Adam Scott in the quarterfinals Saturday morning, two matches in which he gave up 40 yards off the tee.

"I finally faced a player that I wasn't 30 to 40 yards behind off the tee,'' Toms said.

Length was never the issue. Toms made several long putts in the morning, his irons have been brilliant all week and that 5-wood might wind up in a museum one day.

DiMarco showed plenty of grit.

He never trailed in any of 67 holes he played in his four matches leading to the semifinals, then quickly found himself getting run over. Goosen won the first three holes, the last one when DiMarco badly missed a 4-foot birdie putt, and it looked like it would be a short day of work for the U.S. Open champion.

But he came undone by the trees.

Chipping from under a tree at No. 7, he left his third shot in the thick grass and lost the hole with a bogey. Then, his tee shot on the par-5 eighth sailed right into a tree and never came down.

His caddie, Colin Byrne, climbed into the tree and shook it with all his might, swinging at the branches with an iron. After several minutes, a ball plopped down into the rough -- but it wasn't the one Goosen hit. He picked it up, then conceded the hole to DiMarco instead of returning to the tee to play his third shot.

DiMarco pulled even with a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 11th, then took his first lead of the match in swift fashion. He holed a 25-foot birdie on No. 13, then chipped in for birdie behind the 14th green to go 2-up.

Earlier Saturday, DiMarco chipped in from 40 feet on the 14th in his quarterfinal victory over Stewart Cink.

Toms' fortunes turned on a bad shot by Poulter.

The Englishman was leading 1 up and had a wedge in his hand on the par-5 eighth, poised to build his lead. But he went long into the bunker for a bogey that squared the match, and Toms then took his game to incredible heights.

After that birdie-eagle-eagle stretch, the only thing Toms failed to do was deliver a knockout.

Poulter made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th, and Toms missed from 10 feet. Then, Poulter twice save par from the rough, while Toms missed birdie putts from 12 and 6 feet.

But just when it looked as though Poulter might have a chance to swing momentum in his direction, Toms delivered another great shot. After hitting into rough so deep he had to play short of the creek on No. 15, Toms hit a wedge that stopped 6 inches from the cup to save his par, and Poulter remained 2-down.

Three Australians were among the quarterfinalists, but none made it any farther.

Goosen jumped out to a 4-up lead after seven holes against Robert Allenby and won, 4 & 3. Toms never trailed against Scott, making a 20-foot par putt on No. 15 that could have let the Aussie back in the match. Poulter ended the amazing journey of Nick O'Hern, the guy who knocked Woods out in the second round, with a 3 & 1 victory.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page