England
saw their campaign come to an abrupt end at the hands of defending champions South
Africa, who cruised to a 3-0 victory to top Group 3.
Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were always in control of their respective matches,
Els firing a 67 to defeat the luckless David Howell by two shots.
Speaking after his round, Els said: “I made some good putts but missed some simple
ones on the back nine. I’m playing better than I have been but it is nice to play
the Old Course again.
“In the
past I’ve played well here and had some good feelings this week. I gained some
confidence from yesterday but it will only get tougher from now on. We’ve got
our work cut out against Spain in the semi-finals.”
A bogey at the 17th ended Lee Westwood's hopes against Goosen. Mark James was
unable to pick up a shot at the final hole and went down narrowly to David Frost.
"We're disappointed," said
James, who like Westwood was fiercely critical of the Old Course as a test of
golf yesterday. "We had a little bit of bad luck, but we've no complaints."
Westwood commented: "I got a hard bounce
with my second to the 17th and it went onto the road. From there it was virtually
impossible."
Howell added:
"I played lovely, but Ernie put such a good run together at the start."
In the other match in Group 3, India
whitewashed China 3-0 to register their first win in the competition. Jyoti Randhawa
got the Indians off to a good start when his 71 was good enough to beat Zhang
Lian Wei's 74.
Jeev Milkha
Singh, who beat England's Lee Westwood on Thursday, completed a satisfactory individual
week when he he defeated Cheng Jun 72-74. In the last match, Wu Xiang Bing 77
lost to Vijay Kumar 73
Spain's Ryder Cup threesome
kept their Dunhill Cup dream alive when they fought back in thrilling fashion
to defeat Ireland 2-1.
Miguel
Angel Jimenez holed a 10-footer on the 18th to take his match against Padraig
Harrington into overtime before sealing victory on the first extra hole.
Jimenez, who lost on Thursday and Friday,
had said of his team mates: "They don't need me, but if they do, I'll be there."
After beating Harrington, his
partner in two matches in the Ryder Cup last month, the Spaniard said: "I promised
and I always keep my promises."
Darren Clarke took six at the 17th as he relinquished a three-shot advantage against
Sergio Garcia. The Ulsterman had got to seven under par after 12 holes with a
four shot lead but a bogey at the 16th let in Garcia.
Jose Maria Olazabal looked out of form as Paul McGinley beat him by two strokes.
Captain McGinley said: "It's
very disturbing and very disappointing. We dominated from the very first hole
and they were a beaten team.
"I
just don't understand how they managed to wriggle out. Padraig's obviously disappointed
and Darren's 10 times worse. He feels he's let everybody down.
"It's
probably one of the greatest wins in the history of the Dunhill Cup. That's the
comeback of all comebacks - even bigger than the Americans at the Ryder Cup. It's
sickening."
The Irish players
were left fumming that they had only be seeded seventh which left them in the
toughest group. Last year the world rankings of only two of each team were added
up to decide the seeds.
This
time all three were added up. "It should be addressed," stated McGinley. "The
players don't know what's happening until the draw is made. That's the opinion
of every player I've spoken to."
In the purely academic match between the bottom two countries in Group 4, Zimbabwe
came out on top winning 2-0 against France.
Zimbabawe, who had been many people's outside bet to at least reach the final,
redeemed themselves after putting up such a disappointing show this week.
Mark McNulty comprehensively beat Marc
Farry 69-73. Former British Open and US PGA Champion Nick Price recorded the second
point when he defeated European Ryder Cup member Jean Van de Velde at the third
extra hole. Both had displayed some great golf after scoring 68's.
In the other match, both Jean-Francois Remesy and Tony Johnstone fired 68's as
well but their game didn't reach a conclusion as their play-off was abandodned
after three extra holes.
