Top seed Retief Goosen of South Africa equalled his own tournament record when he beat Australian Mark Hensby 12 and 11 in their quarter-final tie in the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club.
Goosen, the World Number Five, 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 event.
Goosen, 36, is now through to the semis for the first time in his career. He next plays US Open Champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand, who recovered from five down to defeat Australia's Steve Elkington with a brilliant pitch and putt for par at the first extra hole.
The other semi-final pits Ireland’s Paul McGinley – a 9 and 8 winner over fellow Ryder Cup player, Luke Donald – against the man who edged out the Dubliner in the BMW Championship over the same course in May, Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, a 4 and 3 winner over Spain’s José Maria Olazábal.
"Mark struggled and that's pretty much what happened with Jeff Maggert," Goosen said. "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, tenth, 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 £1,000,000, 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 par 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 ten down at the halfway stage. But a birdie four at the 18th meant he reduced his arrears from ten 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.
"It's just lucky for me the last two days that I have managed to get ahead very quickly and stay there and win by a big margin," said Goosen, who handed out an 8 and 7 defeat of Kenneth Ferrie in round one.
"Conditions were tough out there today, it's tricky with the breeze. He started hitting a few bad shots and then lost some confidence."
Campbell, trailing Elkington after four holes at lunch, played steady golf in the afternoon as the Australian made a series of errors. A par five at the 35th was sufficient to square the match and after the 36th was shared in birdies, Campbell played an exquisite chip to three feet for a winning par at the 37th.
Campbell said: "It was a bit of a strange day. I made a fast start and he came back at me and suddenly I was four down after 18 holes."
Although his next opponent, Goosen, has only played 54 holes in reaching the last four, Campell doesn't expect fatigue to be a factor. He added: "I'm pretty fit. I've been going to the gym for the last six or seven years so I'll be ready tomorrow. Just put my feet up tonight, relax with the kids and come out firing tomorrow."
Meanwhile, McGinley waltzed past Donald after being six up through 18 holes to reach the semi-finals at his first attempt. The man who holed the winning putt in The 2002 Ryder Cup was in blistering form against Donald, birdieing four holes in a row from the third on his way to a six hole lead at lunch.
Donald was unable to make a dent on that deficit in the afternoon and McGinley birdied the fourth and fifth for the second time in a day to close out the Englishman 9 and 8 without using up too much valuable energy.
“I’m obviously pleased. Luke is a world class player as we know and he had a lot of support out there as the local boy. It was good to come through against a very difficult opponent.
“I take nothing for granted in this game, nothing at all. I realised that Luke was going to come at me in the afternoon and match play being such a fickle thing, momentum is massive. I knew I had to keep him at arm’s length and I’m just glad I was able to finish him off.”
Cabrera once again demonstrated his quality over the West Course in beating Olazábal on the 15th green. He said: “This is a great day for me. I think I beat one of the great match play players in ‘Chema’. He is unbelievable and to beat him means a lot to me.
“Now it’s Paul McGinley – it’s like the BMW Championship all over again but I am very confident. I like the course and I know it so well now. It could be a big week for Argentina here at Wentworth after my win in the BMW and Eduardo Romero winning the Senior Masters here. Why not? Anything is possible.”
