CARLSBAD – The big names and high-ranking players might be gone from the tournament, but there are a couple of funny characters remaining in Steve Pate and Andrew Magee. Each used yesterday’s stage as Andersen Consulting Match Play semifinalists to display their respective sense of humor.
After he barely hung on to defeat Japan Tour player Brandt Jobe on Thursday after some shaky putting, Pate joked that he was going to be on the practice putting green so late that night he’d have to order a pizza to be delivered.
Well, Domino’s delivered.
The sister-in-law of Pate’s caddy, who watched his interview on TV from Ohio, called a local Domino’s, gave it an order and a credit card number and had two pies delivered to the La Costa putting green. Unfortunately, they arrived about 20 minutes after Pate departed.
“She didn’t know about the time difference,” Pate joked. “By the time they got there it was dark and I was gone.”
Pate, disgusted in his putting on Thursday, said he brought “a bouquet of putters” to the practice green and made a change. “My other one was tired,” he said.
With the fresh putter, Pate defeated Fred Couples and Eduardo Romero to reach today’s semifinals. Earlier, Pate beat Davis Love III in the first round, prompting him to joke that he and Romero, who beat Lee Westwood, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson, “took care of everyone’s favorites.”
Pate, known for his serious demeanor on the course, was like a standup comedian in his press conference. Asked about his change in attitude, Pate said, “Well, after taking a year off after trying to get dead in a car accident and not quite succeeding, it kind of doesn’t seem like a big deal when it’s all over.
“I am trying just as hard and am just as intense when I’m out there, but in the overall picture, it is not quite as important as it once was.”
Pate was referring to a 1996 car crash in the California desert in which he ran into the rear end of a slow-moving truck and broke his right hand and wrist. It forced him to play in only three events in ’96.
Asked about slaying the big-name players, the 61st-ranked Pate said, “I love match play. I figure I’ve got a better chance to beat these guys one day at a time instead of in four days. Those of us with attention deficit disorder can focus on one day.”
Magee, ranked 50th in the world, took out Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Bill Glasson and Shigeki Maruyama – all players ranked ahead of him.
“I’m as surprised as you guys I’m here,” Magee joked. “I feel like I’ve been the underdog in every match I played, which you want to be when you are playing in a tournament like this. I feel like this is the NCAA Tournament, when no one wants to play the underdog.”
When informed that he, Pate, John Huston and Jeff Maggert have blown millions of office pools, Magee replied, “Yeah? Tough [bleep]. I don’t care.” *Magee, who spent the afternoon protecting a slim one- and two-hole lead, said he got defensive. “I went into the four-corners defense,” he joked. “I was trying to kill the middle of the green.”
Magee, who has four Tour wins, the last of which was in 1994, explained his sometimes erratic play on his horoscope sign, saying, “Things change on every shot with me anyway. I’m a Gemini. I jump from good to bad real fast.” *The players remaining in the Final Four have a combined total of 16 victories, but no majors. No player in the top 23 made it to the semifinals, including none of the 24 foreign players.
*Tiger Woods was awarded $100,000 by a bank as the “King of Swing” on the six-tournament West Coast swing of the PGA Tour .