European Tour Members and Wentworth estate neighbours Thomas Björn and Ernie Els will contest the 36 hole final of the HSBC World Match Play Championship after both came through enthralling semi-final clashes in perfect conditions on the West Course.
Björn, the Number Ten seed, defeated Number Three seed Ben Curtis, the Open Golf Champion, on the final green by two holes, while Els, the Number One seed and defending champion, ousted Number Five seed Vijay Singh 5 and 4 in a thrilling contest which found its way into the record books.
Four down after 15 holes of the morning round, the chances of Els matching Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player as five time winners of the event looked slim, but the current Number One on the Volvo Order of Merit had other ideas.
Starting with a birdie three on the 16th hole, the South African proceeded to win eight holes in a row to turn the match on its head, the run representing the biggest run of consecutive holes won in the 40 year history of the event.
The previous best had been the seven holes won by Tony Lema in his match with Gary Player in 1965, which of course Player subsequently went on to win, and at the end of the remarkable run, at the fifth hole of the afternoon round, Els was four up and had turned the match completely on its head.
To his credit Singh, the champion in 1997, kept battling with a birdie three at the eighth and and eagle three at the 11th. But Els had built up a big enough cushion and when he birdied the 13th to move four up with five to play, the end was in sight.
It came at the very next hole, a par three good enough to win the match as Singh missed the green to the left with his tee shot and failed to get up and down for par, missing in the end from six feet.
“It is really great to play in the final again,” said Els. “I think this will be my sixth final and I am really looking forward to it. Vijay gave me a nice gentle start to the afternoon but I felt I really came back into it when I won the last three holes of the morning.
“I wasn’t feeling comfortable this morning and I was going through all of the swing fixes I could think of and I finally found one on the 18th tee this morning. I felt comfortable with that drive and I went with that in the afternoon and felt much better.”
Singh battled hard but could not stop a repeat of last year when Els also triumphed over him in the semi-final before beating Sergio Garcia in the final. In total it was the third time in four meetings between the pair in the event at Wentworth Club that the South African had emerged victorious.
“I played okay in the morning but I started off very badly in the afternoon and it just didn’t feel right,” said the Fijian. “I started to come back but Ernie was also playing well and he didn’t make too many mistakes.
“But for those first few holes this afternoon I would have been in business, but I have to give credit to Ernie for the way he played.”
In the final, Els will face a man he knows really well for, as well as being a close Wentworth neighbour of Thomas Björn, the players’ wives know each other and their children regularly play together, a factor highlighted by the Dane.
“Tomorrow will be a strange day for us in the sense that we are good friends and we see each other a lot outside the golf course,” said Björn. “But I think we are going to put that aside and go out and do the best we can.
“I am also very well aware of what I am up against as a golfer. He has won this tournament four times and I’m very well aware of what I will have to do to win. But I will be up for it and I’m just looking forward to it very much.”
Just as in his second round match with Number Two seed Mike Weir, Björn was never behind but it said a lot for the determination and skill of his American counterpart that it took until the final green for the Dane to eventually bring the curtain down.
“Ben is a good player,” said Björn. “He’s got a great career ahead of him and he is going to win more golf tournaments. It is difficult for him with what has happened to him. It is going to take him some time but he’s that good a player that he is going to come strong.”
Curtis said: “I’m proud of the way I played and have competed this week. I played well this morning in particular and although we both gave a few holes away coming down the stretch in the afternoon, I am pleased with the way I’ve performed.”
