The Caddie's Role: There was a sense of irony about the weather that greeted us in southern California last week for the seventh and final Accenture Matchplay event staged at the La Costa country club. It was fresh, crisp, warm by mid-afternoon and very dry.

Every time we came here in the past we were bombarded by the customary deluge for San Diego in February. It was a standing joke that the event should be renamed the La Costa Regatta.

Bridges over the normally tranquil stream that runs though the resort have frequently been dislodged by the amount of water sent gushing through the course in recent years.

There was almost a sense of nostalgia when the competitors mentioned that this was the last year here and the guaranteed dry climate of Tucson, Arizona, would be next year's venue.

Stephen Ames, the unfortunate victim of the world's best golfer in the the first round last Wednesday, would have been feeling a bit blue after his 9 and 8 drubbing. Ames apparently had made the fatal error of having suggested that Tiger was less than accurate with his driver.

Ames was the last man into the event as a result of Thomas Bjorn pulling out. When he was asked about his chances, he reckoned they were good, "especially where he is hitting the ball" off the tee. Tiger's post-match reaction to Ames' comment was simply "nine and eight". The secret with Tiger is not to offend him, it incites him to punishing golf. His following opponents were not so vocal in their pre-match interviews and Tiger's golf seemed more tame as a result.

Matchplay is the ultimate form of golf for inspiring the most bland of cliches .

"You never know", "it ain't over till the fat lady sings", "stranger things have happened". They all apply to matchplay even when the world's best golfers are competing over 18 holes.

The healthiest theory to go by is the most pessimistic, "expect the worst". The chances are it will happen. My man Retief (Goosen) was cruising towards a steady victory in the second round when his opponent, Ben Crane, holed his six-iron tee-shot to the par three 16th.

When something like this happens, the dynamic quickly swings in favour of the hunted. Having been up in his match all through the round, Retief suddenly felt the heat of the previously tame Crane.

Padraig (Harrington) had no inclination that Davis Love was going to hole his 110-yard third shot on the final hole of their quarter-final game to win the match. Holing long putts is a realistic prospect, wedge shots are less likely and lead to the ultimate golf cliche "that's golf" - there is no place for analysis, just shake hands and make plans for leaving town.

I was afforded the luxury of watching the final between Davis Love and the relative minnow, Australian Geoff Ogilvy, ranked number 52 in the seedings. His unlikely victory against Mike Weir in the third round - eventually winning on the 19th - having been dormie four down adds weight to the "hunter" argument. It is often less pressurised and more suited to some players to be in the pursuing role rather than the leading one.

The world golf events are an attempt to capture the global flavour of professional golf. The fields are made up of the best players from all the tours in the world, naturally the vast majority of the competitors are either from the American or European tours, and earn their right to play by their world ranking position.

Looking at the rankings it is easy to assume that the better players should beat the lesser ones. The parameters of 18 holes matchplay are totally different and quite realistically the 64th ranked player has a fair chance of beating the number one ranked player, if he believes he can.

He certainly has a better chance of doing so than he does in a 72-hole strokeplay event. The dynamic of matchplay is completely different.

There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages to the global nature of today's world. When I arrived at the course last Sunday to watch the final live I thought I had caught up with the consolation third and fourth place match because there were at best only a few hundred spectators following.

It was very pleasant to walk unhurried alongside the twoball and not have to jostle for position to see them play a shot; you could choose which angle to look from if you so desired.

When Geoff holed a birdie putt on 16 to win the hole, I felt embarrassed into applauding him as there was a deafening silence from the meagre gathering. It was so non-eventful and such a beautiful southern Californian day I took off, disheartened, to the beach for a spot of brunch and decided to watch the afternoon session on the TV.

As I tuned into the duet by Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger on American TV I started to get a sense of what the globalisation of golf meant.

I wonder what would have happened if Tiger had made it as far as the consolation third and fourth place match and the crowd congregated for his match and left the final strictly to the TV crews. This is what would invariably have happened. A golf event today seems to be heavily reliant on the great one to carry it. Thankfully the commentary of Nick and Paul is insightful and entertaining.

Ironically the rain is due to hit southern California with a vengeance today as the golfing circus has just left town. The matchplay will be held in the climactically more dependable Arizona next year and a new star of the global game, Geoff Ogilvy, will be there to defend his well-earned global title.