If the Match Play was medal play
By Bill Felber
How did Erik Van Rooyen beat Daniel Berger?
Daniel Berger began as the 14th seed and landed in a group with Harris English, Brendon Todd and Erik Van Rooyen. By medal play standards, Berger was solid and possibly borderline brilliant. He cruised past Van Rooyen Wednesday, making five birdies in 14 holes and winning 6 and 4.
Thursday’s match with Todd was choppier. Berger posted four birdies, but muddied that with three bogeys and lost 2 and 1.
With all four group members tied at 1-1, the outcome hinged on both Friday matches. Berger more than did his part, birdieing the first three holes of his match against English and turning three-up with a medal play score of five-under 30. Two more back nine birdies helped him put away English 4 & 2.
Berger had finished regular group play with two of the most dominant victories of the competition. But he had not yet won. When Van Rooyen defeated Todd 2 and 1, Berger and the man he had whipped in 14 holes two days earlier were thrown into a sudden death playoff.
This was one of those playoffs that would have been unthinkable in medal play. Berger had completed his three rounds in what would have amounted to about 200 strokes in stroke play competition. Van Rooyen, by contrast, projected to have shot 76-69-68-213, 13 strokes worse than Berger and in fact the worst three-round total in the group.
Despite that, when Berger missed a 12-foot par save on the second hole of the playoff, Van Rooyen claimed the group victory.