Bereft of many of the game's leading players, who regretfully declined the opportunity to compete for £1 million, the World Matchplay Championship struggled yesterday to find a contest worthy of the tournament's name. Matchplay? More like mis-matchplay.
For that the organisers can blame Retief Goosen and Paul McGinley, both of whom were back in the clubhouse shortly after lunch, content rather than contrite at having annihilated their second-round opponents, Australia's Mark Hensby and England's Luke Donald respectively, to qualify for today's semi-finals.
It is safe to assume both will face harder matches than they have done thus far in the tournament, not least because it could not get much easier.
After hammering Kenneth Ferrie 8 and 7 in round one, Goosen handed Hensby, conqueror of Colin Montgomerie, an even bigger beating, equalling his - and the tournament's - record 12 and 11 margin of victory.
Not that the always cheery Australian will need cheering up, but the fact is that it could have been worse. Goosen was 10 up after 17 holes. On the 18th he had a short putt to halve the hole which his opponent, after much thought, decided against conceding. "It was a good yard away so there is no reason why he should have given it to me, although I had been making pretty much everything up until then. But I pulled it - the first really bad stroke I'd made," Goosen said.
A bad stroke, maybe, but not a match-altering one. Three birdies in the first six holes of the afternoon extended the South African's lead, and on the seventh the pair shook hands.
Scheduled to play 72 holes over the first two days, Goosen has needed only 54; no wonder he looked even more laid-back than usual.
In the other matches, US Open champion Michael Campbell came back from five down after 17 holes to sink Australian Steve Elkington at the 37th, while Angel Cabrera was a 4 and 3 winner over Jose-Maria Olazabal.
Campbell appeared out for the count when he went five down after 17 holes of his trans-Tasman encounter with Elkington.
But the Kiwi chipped away at his deficit and was given a helping hand when Elkington's form slumped on the back nine of the afternoon round.
The former US PGA champion equalled the tournament's worst inward half, set by Nick Faldo in 1983, when he ballooned to a four-over-par 41. The 42-year-old then bogeyed the first extra hole.
Cabrera never trailed Olazabal and took a firm grip on the match with an eagle three at the 22nd. He went four up at the next when he struck an almost perfect six-iron from the tee before draining his birdie putt from 12 inches.
Guardian Service
