Retief Goosen equals tournament record

Top seed Retief Goosen equalled his own tournament record when he thrashed Australian Mark Hensby 12 and 11 in their quarter-final at the World Match Play Championship on Friday.

Goosen now meets New Zealander Michael Campbell after the U.S. Open champion came back from five down after 17 holes to sink Australian Steve Elkington at the 37th.

Ireland's Paul McGinley trounced Briton Luke Donald 9 and 8 to set up a clash with second-seeded Argentine Angel Cabrera, a 4 and 3 winner over Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal.

Goosen, the world number five from South Africa, closed out Hensby with a par four at the 25th hole to match his first-round rout of American Jeff Maggert last year.

The unfortunate Hensby was never in the contest after going eight down after 11 holes, a unique position in the 41-year history of the Wentworth event.

"Mark struggled and that's pretty much what happened with Jeff Maggert," Goosen, 36, told a news conference after reaching the semis for the first time in his career.

"He pretty much struggled all the way. Especially on the back nine this morning, and that's really where I got ahead."

World number 27 Hensby, who had beaten 1999 winner Colin Montgomerie 2 and 1 in the first round, set the tone for the day when he three-putted from 35 feet for a bogey five at the opening hole against Goosen.

The ninth seed continued to suffer a torrid time, bogeying the third, fifth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 16th on his way to a five-over-par 77.

By contrast, Goosen looked in ominously good form in his bid to capture the winner's cheque of one million pounds ($1.81 million), the richest first prize in golf.

Goosen, attempting to register his third tournament win in a row following victories in Germany and China, birdied the fourth, fifth, seventh, 12th, 13th and 17th to card a flawless six-under 66.

Hensby came perilously close to tying the championship record for 18-hole deficits held by Maggert, Australia's Peter Thomson (against Gary Player in 1968) and Fijian Vijay Singh (against Mark O'Meara in 1998), who were all 10 down at the halfway stage.

But a birdie four at the 18th meant he reduced his arrears from 10 to nine at lunch.

The first three holes of the afternoon round were halved before Goosen plunged his opponent into even deeper trouble with birdies at the fourth and sixth.

Goosen also handed out an 8 and 7 drubbing of Briton Kenneth Ferrie in round one.

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 U.S. PGA champion equalled the tournament's worst inward half, set by Britain's Nick Faldo in 1983, when he ballooned to a four-over-par 41.

The 42-year-old Elkington then recorded another bogey at the first extra hole.

"It's amazing, the format of match play, it can change so very, very quickly," said Campbell.

"It can change three or four times in the space of a hole.

"It wasn't my best performance scoring-wise but it was good enough to win. It was pretty ugly out there."

McGinley set up his big win over world number 14 Donald with four birdies in a row from the third hole of the morning round.

The Irishman was six up when he tucked into his lunch having hit a sparkling six-under-par 66.

"I'm obviously very pleased," said McGinley. "Luke is a world class player as we know.

"He had a lot of support out there being a local boy, that's only natural, and it was good to come through against obviously a very difficult opponent."

Cabrera never trailed Olazabal and took a firm grip on the match with an eagle three at the 22nd.

The Argentine went four up at the next hole when he struck an almost perfect six-iron from the tee before draining his birdie putt from 12 inches.

"This is a great day for me, I beat one of the great match play players," said Cabrera.

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