This time, Tiger Woods may remember Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
The 31-year-old Spaniard, who said the two golfers shared breakfast at an earlier tournament (though Tiger claimed to have no recollection of their meeting), gave Woods an early scare Wednesday in their opening-round Match Play Championship contest. Fernandez-Castano eventually folded down the stretch in a 1-up victory for Woods but it was hardly a convincing triumph for the three-time Match Play winner.
Woods, who battled a cold as well as his driver and flat stick, finally took control of the match on the 15th hole. With driver in hand, he reached the 343-yard, par-4 hole and left himself a 25-foot putt for eagle. While his ball curled away from the hole at the end, his conceded birdie got him to all-square when Fernandez-Castano’s attempt went awry as well.
At that point, it was all over for Fernandez-Castano, who took an early 2-up lead but a slew of missed opportunities prohibited him from making good on a pre-tourney boast that he could tame Tiger.
“He’s still got it,” Golf Channel’s Nick Faldo said of Woods, as Fernandez-Castano’s tee shot missed the par-3 16th green by miles. “The fear factor.”
That remains to be seen going forward, but it did appear that Fernandez-Castano’s collar tightened quite a bit after the 15th. For sure, Woods’ body language told the story, as he stalked the 16th green with confidence, while his playing partner sagged as his putt — and any chance of staging a major upset — leaked weakly to the right of the pin.
But it wasn’t easy — and it certainly wasn’t pretty — for Woods, who made his first birdie on the seventh hole. He and Gonzo had smacked so many balls into the saguaros by the 11th hole that Faldo suggested they “aim at the desert so they might hit the green.”
Unforced errors prevailed, as both players tried to hand the match over to his opponent. Indeed, each golfer played as if he wanted to prove the other right when he said his rival was “beatable.”
No surprise though, that by the time the final putt had dropped, it turned out to be Fernandez-Castano. But the 48th-ranked player in the world — who took Woods to the 18th hole for only the third time in an opening round at this event (according to the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson) — gave No. 20 a match to remember.
“Neither one of us really had our best stuff today,” Woods said in a huge understatement after sinking his winning putt on 18. “There were huge swings in this match and just kinda surviving out there.”
For his troubles, Woods draws Nick Watney, 5&4 winner over Darren Clarke, in Thursday’s second round.
Though TV viewers may not have known it, thanks to Golf Channel’s Tiger-heavy coverage, Keegan Bradley, among others, was also in the field of 64 at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club outside Tucson, Ariz. A hard-luck runner-up — along with Phil Mickelson — to Bill Haas in last week’s Northern Trust Open, Bradley made it look easy with a 4&3 thumping of Geoff Ogilvy.
“I played great,” the New Englander said after posting seven birdies and an eagle in his 15-hole round. “It feels so good to come back after that playoff loss and play like that.”
Bradley also took to Twitter to keep fans updated on his well-publicized efforts to kick a nasty habit.
“One of my best rds of the year,” @Keegan_Bradley tweeted. “Excited I’m still alive. And didn’t spit once! #progress”
Haas, by the way, won’t be making it two PGA Tour wins in a row. Ryo Ishikawa bounced last year’s FedEx Cup champion, 1-up, in a surprising first-round upset.
Click here to keep up to date on all the matches this week.
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- Medalist Cheyenne Woods wins first Publinx match
- Later BMW Championship, shorter Match Play tilt on 2011 PGA Tour schedule
- Will Bradley match stellar rookie season — and other golf queries for 2012
- Tiger Woods will play in Chevron World Challenge whether he qualifies or not
