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Woosnam captures title
for third time
Ian Woosnam has claimed
his third World Match Play crown 11 years after the last with a two and one victory
over Padraig Harrington in a see-saw final at Wentworth.
The 43-year-old Welshman
sealed his triumph at the 35th hole - the long 17th - when he coaxed in a 10-foot
putt for birdie after battling back from three down at the 24th.
It gave him his first title
in four years, partially making amends for his tied third-place finish at this
year's British Open when he was penalised two strokes after his caddie failed
to notice an illegal extra club in his bag.
For Harrington, it was the
supporting role once again as he finished runner-up for the seventh time this
season.
After Woosnam's event-best
28 for the first nine had given the Welshman a three-hole lead, Harrington hit
back with seven birdies on the inward half for a championship record-equalling
11-under-par round of 61. Woosnam shot a 64.
That left Harrington, hoping
to become the 37-year-old event's first Irish winner, two ahead at the halfway
stage and he extended his lead with a birdie at the 21st hole.
His unerring accuracy then
dramatically deserted him at the par-four, 450-yard ninth as he veered twice into
trees before conceding the hole when he faced a 20-foot putt to make seven.
Suddenly, Woosnam, Match
Play champion in 1987 and 1990, seemed to sense a fresh chance against an opponent
who until then had showed no weaknesses.
He birdied the 11th, 12th
and 13th holes while Dubliner Harrington could only negotiate them in one-over-par,
and the 43-year-old former U.S. Masters champion was in the driving seat again
at two-up.
The pair parred the next
three before matching birdies at the long 17th gave Woosnam the title.
In the morning round, Harrington
could only watch in admiration as his opponent strung together seven birdies from
the second to turn three-up after nine.
But Woosnam's hot putter
turned cold at the 10th, where he missed a chance from seven feet, and at the
long 12th.
Harrington capitalised by
collecting four birdies in a row from the 10th and adding three more at the 16th,
17th and 18th.
Woosnam, who had lost the
previous two holes, stopped the rot at the last with a birdie thanks to a masterful
chip to a couple of feet.
He had comfortably dispatched
U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie and defending champion Lee
Westwood in earlier rounds.
Harrington, 30, knocked
out Nick Faldo, Darren Clarke and European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance by large
margins.
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