Golf Events / Paul Krishnamurty / 13 October 2007 /

Heavyweights Els and Cabrera line-up for final of World Match Play

It's shaping up to be a memorable sporting weekend for Argentina. Besides a historic appearance in tomorrow's Rugby World Cup semi-final, they're holding quite a stranglehold on the week's European golf. Daniel Vancsik holds the final round lead in the Madrid Open, but their best chance of success lies with Angel Cabrera at Wentworth.

They say Wentworth is a course where positive previous experiences are a precondition for success, and course specialist Cabrera has rammed that point home this week. The US Open champion stands an incredible -32 through 99 holes, by far the best golf on show. He never looked back after taking the lead on the third hole of the morning against Hunter Mahan, extending that lead to three shots by lunch. It looked all over when Cabrera also won three of the first four holes this afternoon, but Mahan perfomed valiantly all afternoon to keep the match interesting.

Over 10K was matched at 1.03 or less on Cabrera but the money-buyers had a scare when Mahan reduced the deficit to just two with eight to play, hitting five birdies in seven holes. Having drifted to 1.3 though, Cabrera quickly closed the door with a birdie on 11. The next four holes were shared before Mahan kept the match alive with another birdie on 16, but a half on 17 was enough to confirm Cabrera's progress into tomorrow's final with a 2 & 1 win.

Pre-tournament favourite Ernie Els awaits in the final after he secured a 3 & 2 win over Henrik Stenson. Els looked up against it for the first 24 holes as he struggled with various aspects of his game. An unlikely half on the 6th this afternoon was to prove the turning point though. Stenson three-putted the 7th green to hand Ernie a lead he scarcely deserved, and he grabbed the opening with both hands, following up with birdies on 8 and 9 to open up a three-shot gap. Though Stenson hit back quickly with a birdie on 10, Els at last got the putter working to close out victory. Lengthy putts for par on 11 and 14, plus birdie on 12 kept the Swede at bay.

We've now seen six consecutive winning favourites from the quarter-finals onwards but it would take a brave man to pile in heavily ahead of the final where early trading has Els at 1.82, Cabrera 2.22. Ernie may be the King of Wentworth after six Matchplay titles, but Cabrera stands a massive 13 shots ahead of him so far this week. Notably the South African came off second best in their first round encounter last year, so even if Ernie's country does get the better of the rugby, golf could offer some consolation.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: