Associated Press
Friday, January 5

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Ernie Els birdied the last two holes and then made an incredible par on the first playoff hole Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship and send Jean Van de Velde home on another hapless note.

Fairytale continues

Nick O'Hern's unlikely story will live another day at the Accenture Match Play Championship. O'Hern, ranked 103rd in the world and seeded 63rd in the 64-player tournament, reached the quarterfinals on Friday by taking a five-hole lead over the first 10 holes against third-round opponent Dudley Hart. O'Hern surged ahead as the 18th-seeded American had bogeys on the first, sixth and ninth holes to O'Hern's pars. O'Hern won the fourth hole and picked up a birdie on the eighth, making good his form of the first round when he knocked out second-seeded Hal Sutton, who had a back injury, on the third playoff hole. O'Hern, the first replacement into the field last week as several players withdrew because of scheduling concerns, had been looking forward to having a few beers in his hometown of Perth in Western Australia but has been busy in Melbourne instead. "If I keep playing the way I am, someone will have to play good to beat me," O'Hern said after his second-round win over Tim Herron.

Els, the No. 1 seed in a tournament missing Tiger Woods and several other highly ranked players, survived another frenetic finish at Metropolitan Golf Club against Van de Velde, who finally got some good luck and still messed it up.

After three crazy days, Els was the only seed from the top 20 who made it to the weekend.

Tom Lehman, the No. 4 seed, was defeated 1-up by Brad Faxon, who won the Australian Open in 1993 at Metropolitan.

Fifth-seeded Michael Campbell, so confident this was his tournament to win, became the latest victim to Pierre Fulke's 18th-hole heroics. For the second day in a row, Fulke holed a long putt, this time for a 1-up victory.

While the field is not as strong, that's no different than in 1999, when Woods was the only seed remaining after three rounds.

"These guys aren't going to hang back," Els said. "They're out there to win."

One hole down with two to play, Els holed a 30-footer on No. 17 to square the match.

Van de Velde didn't fold -- at least not on the 18th. He holed an 18-foot birdie putt, pumping his fist and gritting his teeth, only to watch Els top him with an 8-footer to force extra holes.

A great match had a wild finish.

Els hit first, well right into shrubs that restricted his backswing toward the pin. Van de Velde, who squandered away the British Open with a triple-bogey on the 72nd hole, then hooked it badly to the left and appeared doomed.

But the ball caromed off a tree and bounced back into the bunker, leaving a shot at the green.

"I saw his ball going left, and the next thing I heard was some guy in the stands say it popped out," Els said. "I thought I was dead."

Els was relieved when he saw his own ball, fearing it would be farther into the junk. He played a hard draw and pulled it off, into a bunker but in good shape to make par.

That was all he needed when Van de Velde hit his pitch shot the one place that he could not afford -- long. The ball ran past the hole, off the green and down the slope, and he had to make a 5-footer just to save bogey.

Els made his 4-foot par putt and advanced to the weekend to face Craig Stadler, who had a dramatic finish of his own.

The Walrus was 3-down with six holes to play but forced extra holes against Andrew Coltart of Scotland. Coltart hit his approach on the playoff hole to about 15 feet, but Stadler answered with a shot into a foot for the win.

There were also a couple of blowouts.

Steve Stricker, gaining confidence every day, was 9-under through 12, including two eagles in his 6-and-5 victory over Justin Leonard.

"At one point, I didn't want him to win a hole," Stricker said.

Leonard never did. Stricker has played so well that in 46 holes over three matches, he has never trailed.

The surprise came from the Australian -- no, not Stuart Appleby, who was eliminated by Toru Taniguchi, 2 and 1. It was that other Aussie, Nick O'Hern, who continued his unlikely journey.

Ranked No. 103 in the world, playing only because Jarmo Sandelin was a late withdrawal, the left-hander defeated Dudley Hart, 5 and 4, to advance to the quarterfinals for a match with Stricker.

It will be his fourth match against an American in four days -- this from a guy who didn't make it through PGA Tour Q-School two years ago.

The quarterfinals features three Americans and two Japanese, as Shigeki Maruyama had an easy time with Mark McNulty in a 4-and-3 victory.