MARANA, Ariz. — Ian Poulter equaled the shortest match of the tournament to reach the final of the Match Play Championship. He won’t know who he plays until today because the longest match didn’t finish.
Paul Casey and Camilo Villegas, neither of whom had gone the distance all week at Dove Mountain, exchanged a series of great shots and clutch putts through 23 holes Saturday until twilight in the high desert made it too difficult to continue.
They were to return at 7:10 in the morning to see who gets to face Poulter and a chance at the $1.4 million prize.
The final stroke of a long day belonged to Villegas, a 28-year-old Colombian, who had a 3-foot par putt on the 14th hole to win the match. He pushed it badly to the right, giving Casey an unlikely reprieve.
“I should have made that putt,” Villegas said.
On the previous hole, Villegas hit a bunker shot from 50 yards that stopped 2 feet from the hole for a conceded birdie, only for Casey to knocked it a 6-foot birdie to extend the match.
Villegas also escaped trouble on the par-5 11th when he blasted out of a desert bush, hammered a fairway metal onto the green and halved the hole with a par.
“If I had to get up early, I wanted to be in the final. I didn’t want to be continuing a semifinal,” said Casey, who reached the championship match last year only to lose to Geoff Ogilvy. “One of us has to be in the final. And both of us want to be there.”
Some three hours earlier, Poulter closed out Sergio Garcia on the 12th hole, 7 and 6.
Poulter was in his room at the Ritz-Carlton, waiting to find out his opponent before taking a hot bath. The match was so long that he wound up taking the bath and then getting a massage. He posted on Twitter, “laying on the massage table having some treatment getting ready for tomorrow, cant believe they are still out there.” PGA
Durant keeps lead
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Joe Durant remained in position for his first PGA Tour victory since2006, birdieing the final two holes for a 2-under 69 and a two-stroke lead in the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
The 45-year-old Durant, a four-time tour winner, had a 14-under 199 total on the Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleon course. He opened with rounds of 64 and 66.
John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) was tied for 17th at 7 under aftera 69. Daly had five birdies, a bogey and a double bogey for 206, which is also the score of Glen Day (Little Rock) after a 68 with five birdies and two bogeys.
LPGA
Petterson up by five
PATTAYA, Thailand - Norway’s Suzann Pettersen stretched her lead to five strokes in the season-opening Honda PTT LPGA Thailand, birdieing the final two holes for a 4-under-par 68 - her third straight bogeyfree round.
Pettersen, who said she drank 12 bottles of water in the extreme heat on the Siam Country Club’s Pattaya Old Course, had an 18-under total after opening with rounds of 66 and 64. The 2007 champion has six career LPGA Tour victories.
Michelle Wie was 2 under after a 74, four strokes behind Stacy Prammanasudh (Conway), who shot a 70 with 4 birdies and two bogeys and is at 210. Former Arkansas Razorback Stacy Lewis was at 216 after a 73 with one birdie and two bogeys.
CHAMPIONS
Armour, Simpson share
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Tommy Armour III shot an 8-under-PAR 64, and Tim Simpson had a 65 to share the second-round lead in the Allianz Championship.
Armour had five straight birdies on the back nine to match Simpson at 13-under 131.
Leaderboard
PGA TOUR
PGA Mayakoba Classic Saturday At El Camaleon Golf Club (Par 70, 6,923 yards) Riviera Maya, Mexico Joe Durant .....................64-66-69-199 Charles Warren .............67-69-65-201 J.P. Hayes ......................65-67-69-201 Chad Collins ..................67-68-67-202 Cameron Beckman .......65-68-69-202 ARKANSANS Glen Day ........................70-68-68-206 John Daly ......................68-69-69-206
LPGA TOUR
Honda PTT Thailand At Siam Country Club (Par 72, 6,469 yards) Pattaya, Thailand Suzann Pettersen ..........66-64-68-198 Song-Hee Kim ...............67-68-68-203 Yani Tseng .....................68-68-68-204 Momoko Ueda ..............70-65-69-204 Ai Miyazato ....................67-67-70-204 ARKANSANS Stacy Prammanasudh ..72-68-70-210 Stacy Lewis ...................68-75-73-216
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Allianz Championship At The Old Course at Broken Sound (Par 72, 6,807 yards) Boca Raton, Fla.
Tommy Armour III ............. 67-64-131 Tim Simpson ...................... 66-65-131 Bernhard Langer ................ 67-65-132 John Cook .......................... 66-66-132 - Complete scores, Page 13C
Sports, Pages 36 on 02/21/2010