Enjoy the recap of this week's feature event and a Thumbs Down method instruction tip.

WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship
The Gallery at Dove Mountain (South Course)
Tucson, AZ
February 21 - 25
Defending Champion: Geoff Ogilvy

A golf tournament is typically like a four day marathon. You can't win it on the first day, but you can lose it. In match play events, like this week's Accenture Match Play Championship it's a sprint all the way. Bottom line, win today's match or go home.

As Jack Nicklaus suggested, match play teaches a player to close the deal every day. In match play format a player can play well and lose or play just OK and win. With players of this high level, seed rankings mean nothing. Just like the famous football expression goes "on any given day anyone can beat anyone". What happened yesterday is ancient history. Finding a way to win is all that matters day after day. In this event a player needs to win five tough matches just to make the 36 hole final.

On day one, with a field of 64 players competing for $8 million of total prize money, most of the favorites won their matches. The most notable exception was Ernie Els, who made a quick exit. When your putter escapes you, it makes for a long day as Els missed four putts inside 10 feet, losing 4 and 2 to Bradley Dredge of Wales.

On day two, Tiger Woods kept his hopes alive to win his 8th straight PGA TOUR event by beating Tim Clark 6&5. However, on this day many upsets of top bracket seeds occurred, including Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and VJ Singh.

On day three, Nick O'Hern established himself as the modern times Tiger slayer. O'Hern accomplished something no one else in the world of golf has been able to. In a shocker, he beat Tiger Woods for the second time head to head in a match play event. There goes Tiger's winning streak and this weekend's TV ratings.

It was a day that Woods simply didn't have it. The weather didn't help either, as it was windy and frigid by desert standards, with a little rain added at times. His drives were blocked right and pulled left on a horrendous front nine, where he would surely have scored in the 40's if it was stroke play. Who would have thunk that!

After clawing back from a 4-down deficit to tie the match on 18, (in typical Tiger fashion) the REAL shocker happened when he missed a 4-foot birdie putt to win on the first extra hole. This time it was Tiger's turn to experience the meaning of "sudden death", as O'Hern saved par with a 12-foot putt that barely snuck into the hole, to win on the 20th hole. He made a nice up and down on a long greenside bunker shot, after watching Tiger fail to get it within 20 feet on his chip from off the green.

It was no surprise for me to see Tiger make a strong comeback after falling behind. He was 4 down after eight holes and looked more like a club player than the world's #1. As he stood over his 10 foot birdie putt on 18th to tie the match, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was a virtual gimmie. You knew he would make it and he did.

What happened in the playoff was a different story, one of those "I can't believe what I just saw" events. No one ever thought Tiger would miss a 4 footer to win, then NOT getting up and down and losing was a rare event. If you missed seeing this, you missed golf history. After watching it on TV live, as a golfer I don't remember feeling so human.

For current standings of all brackets paste this link into your Internet browser: http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/leaderboards/current/r470/

Thumbs Down Method Instruction tip:
Start with Solid Contact … and work backwards

What this means is that although ALL the steps that make up the entire golf swing are important (all 10,000+), learning to square the club at impact should be on top of your list. Simply put; First teach yourself to control the clubface (with the hands), using it as a tool to get the job done. For best results, discipline yourself to focus your practice sessions on the impact zone.

Try this Drill: Take slow motion swings only to calf or waist height, making a Thumbs Down motion as you strike down on the ball. After getting the feel of making solid contact on the sweet spot, your confidence level will dramatically improve, along with your game. Lower scores are not a guarantee …they are the natural results.