Australian Geoff Ogilvy, seeded 52nd of the 64 players who began the week, led American Davis Love III by one hole at the halfway point in their 36-hole Accenture Match Play Championship final at La Costa.
After the pair shared the first 10 holes, Love took the lead with a two-putt birdie on the 526-yard 11th, but he struggled to get out of a bunker at the 15th, double-bogeyed and then Ogilvy birdied the short 16th from seven feet.
The eighth, 11th and 18th were halved in birdies, but both bogeyed the 14th - Love missed from three feet there - and that gave Ogilvy a three-under-par 69 to Love’s 71.
The difference between winning and losing was over £315,000 - and Ogilvy was trying not just for the first prize of nearly £750,000, but also for his own version of a Grand Slam.
Having knocked out US Open champion Michael Campbell, 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir and then 1996 Open champion Tom Lehman in the semi-finals, he was facing the 1997 US PGA champion.
Love, meanwhile, was trying to go one better than he did two years ago, when Tiger Woods beat him three and two in the final.
"It’s always better to not run up against the world number one I guess, but Geoff Ogilvy is playing great," he said coming into the final. "The fact he’s won in extra holes four times just shows he’s got a lot of guts and determination - he’s not ever going to give up."
Ogilvy had been four down with four to play against Weir, but won with an eagle on the 21st. He also birdied the last hole to level with England’s David Howell and sank a 20-footer at the 19th to win their quarter-final.
His 95 holes to reach the final was the most of anybody in the history of the championship. The Adelaide golfer has won only once on the US PGA Tour - and that was in Tucson exactly a year ago when all the stars, of course, were competing in the Match Play.
Love has not won for three years, but at 41 he still thinks he can challenge for more major honours.
His 111-yard pitch-in for eagle to beat Padraig Harrington by one hole in the last eight was the most dramatic moment of the week and fuelled his belief that good things are starting to happen for him again.
Even if Ogilvy went on to take the title he would not be the biggest outsider to triumph. Kevin Sutherland was seeded 62nd in 2002 and Steve Stricker 55th the previous year.
