Johannesburg – It was a day of mixed fortunes for South African players at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play at TPC Harding Park, in San Francisco.
In the group stages of the Match Play, no players can be eliminated immediately with Branden Grace and George Coetzee looking to bounce back from opening defeats.
The biggest win on the day for a South African belonged to Louis Oosthuizen who thrashed American Keegan Bradley 6&5. The 2010 Open champion began with an eagle at the par five first to win the hole. A birdie at the par four sixth followed for Oosthuizen to go 2-up and he was 3-up at the turn. Bradley threw in a bogey at the 10th to go four down and the match was over on the 13th hole with a confidence boosting victory for Oosthuizen.
Charl Schwartzel had a 5&4 win over Victor Dubuisson of France. The 2011 Masters Champion birdied the first to go 1-up early, and proceeded to win the first four holes to race out to a 4-up lead. Schwartzel simply held his opponent at bay, and by the 15th hole the pair shook hands.
Grace, meanwhile, held a 1-up advantage over American Zach Johnson after five holes. But the American eagled the par four sixth to get back to all square, before Grace bogied the seventh hole to hand Johnson the advantage.
Grace did get the match back to all square through 13, but Johnson showed his experience with three birdies in the last five holes to close out a 2-up victory on the 18th.
For Coetzee, coming up against the vastly-experienced Jim Furyk proved a difficult task as the man from Pretoria Country Club went down 3&2.
Furyk was never down in the match, although Coetzee got it back to all square on the fifth. Coetzee did manage birdies on 11 and 12, but those scores were only good enough for a half on each occasion.
With holes running out for Coetzee, a couple of pars and a bogey followed as Furyk won the match on the 16th hole with a par. – ANA