VIRGINIA WATER, England, 18 October 2003 — Holder Ernie Els celebrated his 34th birthday at Wentworth by booking a World Match Play Championship semifinal spot but was denied any free gifts in yesterday’s second round.
Els’ South African compatriot Tim Clark, ranked 62 places behind the world No. 2, staged an extraordinary comeback after trailing by five holes with six to play of their 36-hole second round match.
Clark clawed back the deficit to stand just one down with the two par fives to negotiate and it needed a gutsy chip and putt from Els to remain ahead at the 17th as both men recorded birdies.
Els then closed the match out at the par-five last after two giant blows secured his birdie four and Clark was only able to take five, so losing the match two-down.
Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, the sole European survivor, booked his last-four spot against Ben Curtis with a 5&4 defeat of US Masters champion Mike Weir.
The remaining second round match featured a thrilling head-to-head between Fiji’s Vijay Singh, the world No. 3, and US PGA champion Shaun Micheel.
The American’s preparation had been ruined the night before by a burglary and he was not able to retire to bed until around 3.30 a.m. (0230 GMT) after police had made their initial investigation into a break-in which left him $2,000 down.
Despite his fatigue, Micheel took Singh to a 38th hole, the short second, before finally capitulating after finding a greenside bunker from the tee. Singh now meets Els today.
Park Leads in Mallorca,
Play Halted Early
In Pula, Mallorca, Spain, Briton David Park led the Turespana Mallorca Classic by a stroke when second round play was abandoned yesterday due to an afternoon thunderstorm.
The second round will resume today with half the 132 field still to complete their rounds. Park was one shot ahead of Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and first round leader Damien McGrane of Ireland when the players were called in at 1440.
Park carded a second round six-under-par 64 to lead in the clubhouse by two strokes on six-under-par 134, while Lafeber, last week’s Dutch Open winner, lies five-under after 13 holes and McGrane five-under after nine. Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, double-bogeyed the short 13th just before the suspension to drop back to four-under and a share of fourth place, while tournament favorite Lee Westwood was seven strokes off the pace after 13 holes.
Swede Henrik Stenson and Britain’s Benn Barham are on four-under-par 136, with Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez, Germany’s Marcel Siem, Britons Paul Broadhurst and James Hepworth and Spaniard Jose Manuel Carriles four-under, also still to complete their rounds.
