It seemed unbelievable, but he did it. Pablo Larrazábal holed it from off the 18th green (par 5) to keep his hopes alive in the Volvo World Match Play Championship, which is being played until Sunday at the London Golf Club. The Spaniard holed his fourth shot from the rough for an unexpected birdie that could not be matched by his rival Stephen Gallacher, whom he beat by 1 over.
Larrazábal started winning the first two holes with birdies, but Gallacher replied with three birdies on the next four holes and went one up. They continued to tie with pars until a bogey by the Scotsman on the 12th tied the match. That’s how they reached the 18th.
Larrazábal made a mess on the last: a drive into a fairway bunker next to the slope, a two into deep rough, a three still in rough near the green. His opponent, with a two near the green, dominated the hole until Pablo hit it from the outside with a wonderful approach, a hard blow for Gallacher who found himself needing a birdie not to win but to tie.
Larrazábal: “It was incredible… I had the hole totally uphill. Drive to the bunker. I hit a 9-iron but I sent it to the left, to the worst rough of the course. I had 50 meters to the flag and I hit a 6 with all my heart trying to go to the green… I just wanted to make five to try to save the draw and have options for tomorrow.
“I had it well placed in rough and thought I could leave it close to make five and put a little pressure on Stevie…but it went in and I was able to win my first point as a pro.”
Gallacher: “What happened is typical of match play, he beat me with a birdie without stepping on the fairway. But I didn’t know how to take advantage of the opportunity either, I hit a bad second shot, if I had been on the green I would have made his fourth shot more complicated”.
Larrazábal and Gallacher play in the Gabrielsson group. In the other match of this group, Victor Dubuisson keeps his undefeated record after defeating Shane Lowry 3 and 2 and has already qualified as first of the group.
Today Larrazábal and Lowry will play for second place. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals and the loser will be eliminated from the tournament. If they tie, there will be a sudden death playoff.
In the Palmer group, world number five Henrik Stenson gave a masterclass in the back nine to win by 2 and 1 over Francesco Molinari, even though the Italian was 7 under par. It was undoubtedly the match of the day.
Molinari was three up after four holes and two up at the end of the 9th. Stenson birdied the 10th and 11th to tie the score. Molinari replied with a birdie on the 12th and went back in front, Stenson tied again with an eagle on the 15th against his opponent’s birdie.
And then he sealed an impressive 2 and 1 victory with birdies on 16 and 17.
Stenson, who tied George Coetzee on Wednesday, will face Thongchai Jaidee on Friday who lost 2-1 to Coetzee.
In the Larson group, the defending champion has lost 2 and 1 to Mikko Ilonen. McDowell has a record of 15 wins in the 17 matches played in this event. He has only lost the 2012 final to Nicolas Colsaerts and this Thursday to Ilonen.
The Finn started strongly and was able to resist the classic G-mac comeback.
McDowell was four under at the 10th. He came back with birdies at the 11th, 13th and 15th to go one under, but Ilonen held on for birdie at the 17th to win.
In the same group, Luiten, who beat Ilonen on Wednesday, beat Alexander Levy 4 and 3 on Thursday.
On Friday, Luiten will face the defending champions.
The McCormack group is in a dead heat, with all four players going into the final group stage match with a win.
Jamie Donaldson bounced back from his Wednesday loss to Paul Casey by beating Jonas Blixt 3 and 2, while Casey fell 2 and 1 to Patrick Reed.
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