Els wins seventh World Match Play title
BY iseekgolf.com | European PGA Tour | 2007 HSBC World Match Play Championship | Round Four | 15 Oct 2007
Second seed Ernie Els beat US Open champion Angel Cabrera 6 & 4 to scoop his seventh HSBC World Match Play title at Wentworth.
In the first of the day’s great South Africa v Argentina battles, Els led from the start, hitting 13 birdies in a comprehensive victory to leave the Big Easy better off by one million pounds – and in time to take a private jet to Paris to see South Africa take on Argentina in the rugby world cup semi-final.
Cabrera, bidding to become only the fifth man to win both the US Open and World Match Play tournaments in the same year, only occasionally showed the form that had seen him dispatch Retief Goosen, Paul Casey and Hunter Mahan in previous rounds, winning only five holes against a dominant Els.
In yesterday’s match, it had taken the Big Easy 25 holes before he had taken the lead. However, despite later revealing he had woken with a back problem, Els hit a perfect tee shot as an edgy Cabrera found the bunker. The South African went on to make par to take a first-hole lead after his opponent missed from six feet – and set the pattern for the day’s play.
Els then holed a birdie three at the third to go two up as an unsettled Cabrera landed in the bunker. The Argentinian pulled back the fifth with a birdie, but poor tee and follow-up shots saw him concede the seventh as Els returned to two up. Then another birdie at the ninth helped Els go out on 31 – and inflict on Cabrera his first three-hole deficit in this tournament.
Els conceded the 12th after driving into the ditch, but regained his three-hole advantage at the 14th with a magnificent 40-foot putt, after Cabrera had hit a 35-footer short. The Argentinian again found the bunker on the 15th but an excellent chip and eight-foot putt gave him a birdie – a feat match by Els from the fringe, after the ball had wobbled tantalisingly on the edge.
Els fired his tee shot into the trees on the 17th – and as the sun symbolically rose, the Argentinian clinched his third hole of the morning with a par five to pull the deficit back to two. But, despite more bunker trouble for Els, an excellent chip and putt gave him a birdie three to lead by three at lunch after Cabrera missed a four-foot putt.
Cabrera’s first shot of the afternoon was driven into the crowd, though he recovered to halve the hole, but he missed an eight-foot putt at the third as Els went four up for the first time. Cabrera again rallied, twice matching his opponent’s sublime putting, and then he holed from three feet on the sixth – after the ball had done a full circle of the lip – for a birdie to pull Els’ lead back to three.
However, the Argentinian missed his chance to pull one back at the seventh as his 20-foot putt rounded the hole to finish halved after Els had missed a rare putt. But a brilliant second shot by Cabrera at the ninth landed two feet from the hole – and the Argentinian clinched it with a birdie three to reduce Els’ lead to two, and go out on 32 (Els on 33).
Despite this, Els began to seal victory from the tenth, hitting back with a birdie to go three up after the ball had hung on the edge. At the 12th, Cabrera missed a crucial five-foot putt to see Els birdie and regain his four-hole lead. But the match slipped from Cabrera’s fingers in the 13th, after two poor shots saw him finish in five, while Els clinched it in four to go five up with five to play. And the South African duly wrapped up victory at the par-three 14th after Cabrera’s second-shot chip went wide.
Els lifted the trophy – the seventh time he has done so – and went top of the European Order of Merit as he collected the one-million-pound winner’s cheque, his earnings at this event rising to over four million pounds.
Els said: “I never thought I’d win a seventh time – it’s amazing. This has been a very important win for me and my career. To win this prestigious tournament is wonderful.”
Source – HSBC
