Donald is on his way home when tigers barely survive the first round of matches

by fddewee613 on 2012-02-24 16:30:57

"I don't think it affected my play today. I just didn't play well," Donald said. "I fought. I left too many openings, made too many mistakes. You can't give anybody in this field a shot, let alone Ernie."

Despite that, there was no looking ahead to the future.

Originally, Donald wasn't going to play the 18th hole this week, either.

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Super won 5 and 4 to become the third No. 64 seed to win a match since this event began in 1999. Peter O'Mara beat Forrest in Costa Rica in 2002, and Ross McGowan defeated Steve Flesch two years ago at Dove Mountain.

This was an 8-foot uphill putt. It gave him a stroke and a hard-earned victory over Fernandez-Castano in the opening round. It allowed him to return Thursday to Dove Mountain with only one goal in this wild match-play competition.

Tiger stumbled on a 50-foot birdie try, drove to the 15th green for a four-shot lead, and twice erased deficits. Bad Tiger missed three times into the desert and lost the hole when he finally had a putt within his reach.

Donald came into this year as the first player to capture money titles on both the PGA Tour and European Tour, and yet he failed to finish in the top 30 in any of the three events he played this year until last week. The last time that happened was August 2009.

Through all these adventures, Forrest had no trouble closing out the most important shot of his career in Wednesday's championship match.

Rory is McIlroy Donald felt after leaving its course. The U.S. Open champion took control by winning four straight holes, and he was 3 up with three holes to play. Then came a忌on the 16th and par on the 17th. Suddenly, he was 1 up on the 18th hole against·Kuche, who suddenly found his tee shot in a bunker, a standard challenge.

Donald will not have that privilege.

He never led Els from the start and was out of contention after nine holes until it was time to remove his cap and shake hands on the 14th green.

(·Lisberg/AP) - Rory·McIlroy of Northern Ireland teed off against 15·Kuche in the Championship Golf Match on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, in Marana, Arizona.

Fortunately for McIlroy, his opponent did not capitalize. Kuche walked 60 feet away from the pin on his approach and three-putted for忌. So McIlory escaped and proceeded toward victory with Donald, giving the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland a clear path to No. 1.

He is heading to South Florida two weeks before the next event at Doral.

Just a year ago, Donald put on the main performance in the championship match. He never went the full seven days, and none of his matches went to the 18th hole.

Matteo Manassero decided to change things up this week without any pressure. When he did, he built a three-hole lead over Simpson, then had a stretch of nine one-putts for birdie or par that kept him in the game.

For the first time, the No. 1 player in the world was beaten in the opening round since he first reached this level at the World Golf Championships in 2005. There is no such thing as being upset, even if not bothered, as the No. 1 seed given the strength of 18-hole match play.

"This is an awful ride home, believe me," said someone who has lost five times in the first round. "I feel the road. He has already put immense pressure on himself. Yes, I know what it feels like."

"Maybe the putt on 18," he said.

Everyone felt the pressure at some point. That's the nature of this tournament.