Els in seventh heaven

Oct 15

Els with a familiar piece of silverware

Ernie Els’ love affair with the HSBC World Matchplay continued as he claimed his seventh triumph in the event courtesy of a 6&4 victory over Angel Cabrera.

The South African, who lives next to Wentworth and helped redesign the West Course on which this tournament is played, seized control of the match by taking a three-hole lead in the morning.

Victory was secured at the 32nd of the scheduled 36 holes after Cabrera missed the green with his approach to the par three and, when he failed to chip in from the back of the green, offered his hand to Els.

US Open champion Cabrera largely matched his opponent from tee to green but fell behind early and failed to hole enough putts to gain momentum for a comeback.

Fast start

Els reached lunch three up after firing eight birdies during the opening 18 holes.

He won the first with a par and followed up with four birdies in the next eight holes to reach the turn with a three-hole advantage.

That was maintained with another four birdies on the back-nine, Cabrera finishing with a bogey six at the 18th to leave himself an uphill battle in the afternoon.

The match continued in a similar vein after lunch. Cabrera did produce a run of three successive birdies from the fourth, but only won one of those holes as Els fended off the charge with two birdies of his own.

HSBC World Matchplay final

E Els (SA) bt A Cabrera (Arg) 6&5

Another Cabrera birdie at the par-four ninth reduced his deficit to two down as the match headed down the stretch.

But Els birdied the 10th and 12th to open a four-hole lead, which became five when Cabrera lost the 13th with a bogey. The result was then sealed at the 14th after the Argentinian over-hit his approach.

Order of Merit

The 1m winner’s prize moves Els top of the European Tour Order of Merit. However, that is likely to be a temporary state of affairs as he is not scheduled to compete in any of this season’s three remaining tournaments.

Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose – second and third respectively on the Order of Merit – will have the opportunity to overtake Els in the coming weeks.

Open champion Harrington is 150,000 behind but is only scheduled to play in the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama between November 1-4, while Rose is competing at next week’s Portugal Masters.