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| September 17, 2005 | Saturday | Sha'aban 12, 1426 |
Goosen on course for career’s biggest pay day
WENTWORTH (England), Sept 16: A relentless Retief Goosen continued his merciless rush to the biggest pay day of his career when he crushed Aussie Mark Hensby in the quarterfinals of the World Match Play championships on Friday.
On Thursday Goosen, the world number five and the top seed, brushed aside England’s Kenneth Ferrie 8 and 7.
It was more of the same against the hapless Hensby as Goosen won 12 and 11 to tie the biggest winning margin in the 42 year history of the championship.
Ironically the record was set only 12 months ago by Goosen when he saw off American Jeff Maggert 12 and 11 in the first round.
In his two matches Goosen has only played 54 holes - averaging 1,481 pounds a hole to date thanks to the 80,000 pounds he has won so far.
Unfortunately Hensby did not play great and Goosen was ruthless as he covered the first 18 holes in 66, six-under par.
Goosen stretched it to 10 up by the 22nd hole, picked up another at the 23rd and then another at the 24th to be 12 up with 12 to play.
Luke Donald, who crushed his 2004 Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer 7 and 6 on Thursday, discovered what it was like to be on the receiving end of a thrashing when he played Ryder Cup teammate Paul McGinley.
The 38-year-old Irishman, a self confessed late bloomer, was six up by lunch.
It was more of the same at the restart, McGinley winning two of the first five holes to be eight up.
But Donald delayed the inevitable by pulling one back at the 24th hole but it was a matter of when McGinley would apply the fatal blow.
It came at the 28th hole when the pair halved the par three - giving McGinley a comfortable 9 and 8 win
Australian Steve Elkington appeared to be in the driving seat in his quarter-final encounter with US Open Champion Michael Campbell when he was four up with only 10 holes left.
But a disastrous back nine, a four-over 41, by the Aussie saw Campbell level the match with only two to go and then forcing the match into extra holes.
One was enough, Campbell winning on the 37th hole to set up a clash with Retief Goosen.
Jose Maria Olazabal found it tough against the big hitting Angel Cabrera in the all-Latin showdown. Two down at the break, the Spaniard was trailing by four after only four holes in the afternoon session.
Things didn’t get any better and Olazabal went down 4 and 3.
Cabrera plays McGinley in the semifinal.
Results:
Retief Goosen (RSA) bt Mark Hensby (AUS) 12 and 11; Paul McGinley bt Luke Donald 9 and 8; Michael Campbell (NZL) bt Steve Elkington (AUS) 37th hole; Angel Cabrera (ARG) bt Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP) 4 and 3
Saturday’s semifinals:
Retief Goosen v Michael Campbell; Paul McGinley v Angel Cabrera.
NEW YORK: The unlikely foursome of South Korean Charlie Wi and Americans Mark O’Meara, Shaun Micheel and Jason Gore topped the leaderboard at the 84 Lumber Classic on Thursday.
The quarter, who between them can count just one top 10 finish on the PGA Tour this season, carded seven-under 65s in the first round at the Mystic Rock Golf Course in Farmington, Pennsylvania.
In contrast, world number two and defending champion Vijay Singh and number three Phil Mickelson, who have each won four events this year, failed to break par.
Micheel, who has struggled since lifting his only career title at the 2003 PGA Championship, had looked to take charge of the leaderboard getting to 10-under with the help of two eagles.
But the American suffered a late collapse with bogeys on his final three holes to fall back and join the pack.
Leading scores:
65 - Jason Gore, Shaun Micheel, Mark O’Meara, Charlie Wi
66 - Carl Pettersson
67 - Stuart Appleby, Bob Burns, Ben Crane, Zach Johnson
68 - Ryan Moore, Brenden Pappas, Pat Perez, Tag Ridings, Joey Sindelar, Chris Smith
69 - Cameron Beckman, Jonathan Byrd, Paul Claxton, Ben Curtis, Carlos Franco, Dudley Hart, Kevin Stadler, Bo Van Pelt
70 - Rory Sabbatini, Rod Pampling, Shigeki Maruyama, Jesper Parnevik
71 - Alex Cejka, Hidemichi Tanaka
72 - Robert Allenby, Peter Lonard, Vijay Singh, Scott Hend, Tjaart Van Der Walt.—Agencies
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