Singh Ends Els’ Mastery In Match Play

Golf

Ernie Els couldn’t gauge his distance, and it cost him a chance to win his fourth straight World Match Play title Sunday at Virginia Water, England.

Vijay Singh beat him 1-up, ending Els’ 11-match unbeaten streak in the tournament.

Neither Singh nor Els could get the measure of the wet fairways and spongy greens at the Wentworth Club, soaked by all-day rain Saturday and half-dried by gusty winds Sunday.

In the 18-hole third-place match, Brad Faxon defeated Nick Price of Zimbabwe 5 and 4.

“We didn’t play as good as we can,” said Singh, who avenged a 3 and 2 loss to Els in last year’s final.

“In match play, you have to just play better than your opponent, which I did.”

“I could have broken a couple of clubs,” the usually laid-back Els said. “I just didn’t feel very comfortable chipping the ball today.

“The greens were soft and you’d try and skip it though. Every time I tried to do that, it stopped on me.

“All day I never played like I played the last three years on this golf course. It’s just a pity I didn’t play well. I guess it had to stop sometime. It was just a pity it had to come to an end this way.”

Singh, taking advantage as Els struggled to find his rhythm over the first 18, was up by three holes after a 2-under 70 as Els shot 73.

Els, “just hanging on,” he said, cut slowly into Singh’s lead and squared the match for the final time at the par-5 30th hole with a 4-foot birdie putt.

The par-4 33rd turned out to be the decisive hole. Els, probably picking a club too short, hit his second shot into a greenside bunker. His wedge out of the sand landed 7 feet away and he missed the par putt.

Singh found it difficult to judge the importance of this win. It was his fourth this season, following the South African Open, Memorial and Buick Open.

On one hand, it’s called the World Match Play - although Els was the only one of the four major winners playing. On the other, the 34-year-old event has been won by some of the game’s greats - Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam.

“I read about Player and Irwin when it was the Piccadilly World Match Play,” Singh said. “I dreamed of playing it one day, and here I am winning it.”

PGA Tour

At Williamsburg, Va., David Duval, a seven-time runner-up on the PGA Tour, made a 10-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a three-man playoff and won the Michelob Championship, his first career victory.

Duval’s putt, after Duffy Waldorf took a 5 and Grant Waite left a long birdie try about 18 inches short on the par-4 18th, was worth $279,000.

All three finished with 13-under-par 271 totals on the 6,797-yard River Course at Kingsmill Golf Club.

Former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett, in contention from the start of the tournament, faded slightly with a 71, but wound up sixth with a total of 275. He earned $55.800.

Senior Tour

Dave Eichelberger birdied the final two holes at Napa, Calif., to cap a final-round 2-under-par 70 and win the $800,000 Transamerica seniors tournament by four strokes over a group of four.

Eichelberger’s victory, his first of the year and third as a senior, was worth $120,000 and increased his earnings in his best season as a senior to $728,922.

Frank Conner had a 67 to lead the group at 209 and he was joined by Terry Dill, 71, John Jacobs, 72, and DeWitt Weaver, 73.

European Tour

All week, Seve Ballesteros hoped for a stronger wind but it didn’t help him and partner Jose Maria Olazabal.

With gusts up to 65 mph Sunday at the $560,000 Novotel Pairs tournament at Bordeaux, France, the Spanish duo finished at 7-under-par 348 and tied for third place. Ballesteros finished with a 70 and Olazabal with a 71.

They finished five shots behind tournament winners Anders Forsbrand and Michael Jonzon of Sweden.

Nike Tour

Former PGA Tour player Mark Wurtz of Oroville, Wash., won his first Nike Tour title, shooting a 1-over-par 73 for a one-stroke victory over Brian Kamm in the Shreveport Open at Shreveport, La.

Wurtz, playing his fifth Nike Tour event of the season, had a 13-under 275 total. He earned $36,000 to jump to 46th place on the money list while securing a spot in the 50-man Nike Tour Championship.