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| October 18, 2003 | Saturday | Sha'aban 21, 1424 |
Bjorn faces reminder of Open disaster
WENTWORTH (England), Oct 17: Thomas Bjorn will get a bitter reminder of how he threw away the British Open last July when he faces Open champion Ben Curtis in the semifinal of the World Match Play championship here on Saturday.
Bjorn and Curtis both had impressive victories here on Friday to set up the showdown.
The Dane overpowered Masters champion Mike Weir 5 and 4 while Curtis crushed fellow American Chad Campbell 5 and 3.
In the second semi-final Ernie Els, who celebrated his 34th birthday by beating fellow South African Tim Clark 2-up plays Vijay Singh who beat Shaun Micheel in sudden death on the 38th hole.
Bjorn insisted his Open nightmare would not enter his mind when he tees up Saturday.
Curtis said his performance on Friday was the best he has played for a longtime.
Els nearly got the fright of his life against Clark.
He looked to be cruising to victory when he took a five hole lead with only six holes left.
But Clark refused to wilt and won four holes in a row to be only one down with two to go.
Els looked clearly rattled as he began to spray his driver all over the famed Burma Road course.
But Els said the shock of nearly blowing a five hole lead might have been just the tonic he needed going into the weekend.
Singh found out what a difference 24 hours can make. On Thursday he crushed Alex Cejka 8 and 7 but against Micheel he spent most of the day behind.
At one stage Singh was three down but managed to claw himself back into contention.
Second round results: Ben Curtis (U.S.) bt Chad Campbell (U.S.) 5 & 3; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) bt Mike Weir (Canada) 5 & 4; Ernie Els (South Africa) bt Tim Clark (South Africa) 2 holes Vijay Singh (Fiji) bt Shaun Micheel (U.S.) 1 hole (at 38th hole)
Semifinal draw: 1-Ernie Els v 5-Vijay Singh 3-Ben Curtis v 10-Thomas Bjorn—Reuters
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