World Matchplay Championship/Quarter-finals:At some stage today, Padraig Harrington is scheduled to board a commercial flight to Bermuda on his way to participate in the so-called 'Grand Slam of Golf,' even though Tiger Woods won't be there.
Enroute, it is likely that some of the thoughts swirling around his head will concern what he has left behind at the HSBC World Matchplay championships at Wentworth, where two of those in closet pursuit of him in the race for the PGA European Tour Order of Merit will be in direct semi-final competiton.
The two men in question are Sweden's Henrik Stenson and South African Ernie Els. Yesterday, on a pet day on the West Course, with barely a breath of breeze to raise any doubts into the minds of players concerned about club selection, Stenson accounted for Harrington's first-round conqueror, Anders Hansen, by a 7 and 6 margin, while Els was only marginally less impressive in defeating Argentina's Andres Romero by 6 and 5.
Should either Stenson or Els go on to win this matchplay, then he would assume the number one spot on the moneylist: as things stand, Harrington is €433,959 ahead of Stenson and €312,719 ahead of Els. And although there is a top prize here of €1.48 million, only €587,147 would actually count towards the money list because of the limited size of this field.
Still, it is a sufficiently strong incentive for Stenson and Els heading into the weekend. Yesterday, Stenson showed no mercy whatsoever to Hansen in inflicting a massive defeat on the Dane.
Normally, a hole-in-one is something to be celebrated but, in Hansen's case, his achievement in recording an ace on the 10th hole in the afternoon simply had the effect of delaying the inevitable. At the time, Hansen was eight down. What it did was put him seven down with eight holes to play, and Stenson finally did the job on the 12th.
All in all, it was an impressive day's work from Stenson, who had led the European Tour money list earlier in the year after back-to-back wins in the Dubai Desert Classic and the Accenture Matchplay but, since then, has suffered something of a fall-off in form with only one top-10 in Europe since then. Oddly enough, that lone top-10 had come in the BMW PGA on this course in May. But he has been affected by a grass alergy for much of the summer, not exactly the type of ailment any golfer would want.
On the first tee yesterday morning, shortly after Stenson had edged out American Woody Austin by one hole in a first-round match which had been brought over from the previous day due to darkness, the Swede was given a reminder of the challenge that lay ahead when the starter introduced Hansen and reminded those present that he was a two-time PGA winner on the course. Stenson's reaction was to produce an immaculate round, eight birdies and no bogeys in what amounted to a 64.
Hansen, four-under on his own efforts, found himself four holes down at the break. It was a tough ask for Hansen to recover, and Stenson esnured it didn't happen. "He played awesome," remarked Hansen, and there was no exaggeration in such a remark. "He just wore me out. It is tough when you have to make a hole-in-one to win a hole!" Now, Stenson has again got the Order of Merit as one of his goals. "I said when I was leading it that it was something I wanted to win. Now, I'm down to fifth, so it is time to move in the right direction again. A good weekend here would definitely help."
There is little doubt that the matchplay format has revived Stenson. "I love it. I haven't been at my best these past few months and I think this was the right event to get me going. It brings out the best in my game," said Stenson. "But it's going to be tough to beat Ernie. He's won six times on the course. He's designed it. He lives here. Is there any more advantages we can give him?"
Els is an old hand when it comes to the matchplay, and yesterday took early control of his match with Romero. He was four-up after the opening 18 holes and, by the time the pair walked off the 10th green in the afternoon, the South African had moved seven clear.
Despite losing the 11th and 12th, Romero's fightback was cut short when Els rolled in a 40-footer for birdie on the 13th to finish matters. "My swing is where I want it to be, and I feel my putting is starting to follow," insisted Els.
"You need to have your short game sharp and you need to hit the ball solidly . . . that's all I'm trying to do, to concentrate on my game and to play as good as I can. Whenever I play the matchplay, with what I've done in the past, I've got a good vibe. So, the vibe is good. It is a positive vibe."
His mind is on the matchplay. If he doesn't win, though, Els doesn't intend to change his schedule to add any further tournaments.
This is his last counting event on the European Tour this season, having committed to playing in Singapore the same week as the Volvo Masters. This is his last chance to overhaul Harrington.
He intends to go for it.
Angel Cabrera bt Paul Case ... 4 and 3
Hunter Mahan bt Soren Hansen ... 6 and 4
Henrik Stenson bt Anders Hansen ... 7 and 6
Ernie Els bt Andres Romero ... 6 and 5
Today's semi-finals
Cabrera v Hunter Mahan
Stenson v Els
(On TV: BBC 1, 1.00pm; BBC 2, 2.30pm; Setanta Ireland, 2.30pm)
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