Tom Lehman continues Ryder Cup push - Accenture Match Play Championship 2006

Tom Lehman has boosted his chances of making his own United States Ryder Cup team, despite losing his semifinal at the Accenture Match Play Championship on Saturday.

Whether he finishes third or fourth on Sunday, Lehman, who plays Zach Johnson in the consolation match, will jump into the top 10 on the standings.

Although there is a long way to go, the top 10 players after August's PGA Championship automatically make the team to take on Europe the following month.

Lehman, the American captain, certainly has his backers.

"I would love for him to make it because he's a great, gritty player," said Davis Love, who will play Geoff Ogilvy in Sunday's final. "Certainly, he's got a major championship type game. He's fit and excited about his game and playing well. I think he's going to have a good year."

Love thinks Lehman could both captain and play in the Ryder Cup, although he would need some serious help.

"I think he would rely heavily on his co-captains, turn a lot of responsibility over to them."

Lehman, who turns 47 next month, finally ran out of gas in his semifinal against Ogilvy, who built a big early lead on his way to a 4 and 3 victory.

"I did a lot of things extremely well this week that I'm very proud of," Lehman said. "Today I just didn't have it."

Lehman's exit at the hands of Ogilvy deprived fans of a Love-Lehman final, which would have been a pretty good consolation for the presenting television network, if not quite a heavyweight Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson clash.

But Ogilvy, though not a big name, is a very good player, a lanky 28-year-old Australian with a seemingly effortless swing. He quietly posted top-six finishes at the British Open and PGA Championship last year and finished 31st on the money list, posting his first professional victory in Tucson on the same day as the Match Play final.

Exempt to play here this year, he obviously didn't defend his title, and now he stands on the verge of what would easily be the biggest feat of his career, although when you've only won once, that's not necessarily saying much.

Ogilvy is the first to admit he's lucky to still be standing, after being forced to overtime in each of his first four matches. He so easily could have been eliminated a dozen times, but dodged every bullet.

Seven times his various opponents had a chance from inside 12 feet to end the match, and five other times Ogilvy had to hole out from outside six feet to stay alive.

No wonder he was so happy.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "I've been very fortunate."