He could be forgiven for believing that they invented the 17th at Wentworth just to haunt him. The story of Padraig Harrington's rise and fall at this year's World Matchplay Championship has as its backdrop that winding, endless second last.

On a grey and sodden morning, the Irishman was four holes up and shining against Sergio Garcia when he stood on the 17th tee. Just as yesterday, he smacked his delivery out of bounds and dropped a shot. And late in the afternoon, with a wintry sun upon them and Harrington's world having turned a full revolution, it was déjà vu all over again. Having erased most of the Spaniard's good work to trail by a single hole, Harrington again sent his initial strike into the wilderness and that was that.

He gamely bashed his way out of the pines with a low trajectory wood, but his long chip for a glorious match-save tailed away from the flag.

"Not much to say really," admitted Harrington as he exited the course. "I'm not really disappointed, I didn't play well enough. I played poorly over the two days and you get weeks like that. I tried to do my best, but was always going to hit a few bad shots and just tried to make the least amount of mistakes."

In the beginning it was the volatile Spaniard who left the course strewn with howlers. However, Garcia eventually settled nicely and scored consecutive birdies on seven and eight. But Harrington was also in a groove, aggressively knocking down a series of putts that kept his Ryder Cup colleague on the back foot.

"After 16 it didn't look too good. Four down? It certainly didn't," reckons Garcia. "This was tough, as Padraig played very well and he kept just making putts and putts. I just told myself to keep giving myself chances and to try and get to three down with 18 to go."

But Harrington's case of Murder at No 17 enabled Garcia to slash the deficit to two at the turnaround and in sunshine he suddenly hit a purple patch, covering holes 19 to 27 in just 30 shots. Harrington's long season and the exertion of Thursday's play seemed to be telling as he fell three holes behind.

However, he rallied with typically brave and on-the-money second shots to the green on the 32nd and 33rd. Those two and three-foot birdie tap-ins promised a pulsating final-green conclusion; but ahead loomed 17, larger now in Harrington's mindset than in reality.

"I thought about it," admitted Garcia as he watched the Irishman address the ball on that hated tee. "You think, well, if I had hit out of bounds this morning, I wouldn't have felt too comfortable, and you could see that he was a bit uncomfortable and actually backed off once. It's not an easy hole."

Elsewhere, New Zealander Michael Campbell had a dream day, defeating a legend and a half (Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam) in one day of golf. It was pistols at dawn for Campbell against Faldo. Their one-hole play-off, the 43rd hole of an epic match which began on Thursday, finished in a Campbell victory. And he continued by rubbing out Woosnam, the defending champion, on a score of 3 and 2. Tired and happy, he was still on a high from his blink-and-you loose round against the great Faldo.

"He was an idol of mine, I used to watch him on TV winning all those Majors, I read so many books on Nick Faldo, so I was elated. For some reason when I shook his hand I went back to shake it a second time. I guess I wanted to make the most of it."

Campbell recalled that when the Englishman was the God of the fairways he was back in New Zealand as a 21-year old working in the telecommunications industry.

For him, fixing telegraph wires meant an opportunity to hit a golf ball around remote fields until he was paged. It just so happened that his pager failed the day the phone lines between Wellington and Auckland died.

"So the boss called me into the office and said: 'Mr Campbell, what do you want to do with your life? Play this stupid game of golf or become a Telecom technician?' And I looked at him and said: 'What do you think?' And I walked out. A few weeks later I resigned." Telecommunications' loss has been golf's gain.

Today the New Zealander plays Garcia in what ought to be a colourful semi-final. The other survivors are Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, who will play each other for a place in tomorrow's big money game.