Golf: Torrance to face Harrington in semi
Sam Torrance, not even in the Cisco World Match Play championship until Tuesday, plays Padraig Harrington in the semi-finals of the £1million event at Wentworth tomorrow.
From three down with 15 holes to play, the 48-year-old Ryder Cup captain, the world No 313, came back to knock out world number five Vijay Singh at the final hole and so set up a duel with Harrington - the man coached by Torrance’s father Bob.
In the other half, defending champion Lee Westwood never led until he birdied the last to beat Ryder Cup teammate Thomas Bjorn, while Ian Woosnam overcame Colin Montgomerie four and three.
Torrance is now guaranteed at least £85,000 from a tournament where he expected his interest would be restricted to some television commentary and a few bets.
That was until Canadian Mike Weir refused to make the trans-Atlantic trip because of world affairs and organisers tracked Torrance down having breakfast at Sunningdale and asked him to step in.
While beating Seve Ballesteros in the first round was no surprise, downing double major winner Singh was especially when the Fijian, two up at lunch after a six under par 66, set off again with another birdie.
But Torrance made threes on the next six holes, one of them for eagle and three of them for birdie and when Singh bogeyed the 28th they were level.
Singh twice got his nose in front again, but Torrance won the last three holes for a notable scalp.
‘‘Ryder Cup captain and vice-captain in the final would be something - that would be unbelievable,’’ said Torrance, aware that 43-year-old Woosnam had already got the better of Montgomerie.
‘‘I’m very proud of what I did. I played brilliant.
‘‘To birdie the last three was awesome and that’s as good a singles win as I’ve had.
‘‘I could feel myself getting emotional, but kept it in check with good shots. My swing’s good and my head’s good. I’m concentrating really well.’’
Harrington might well be considered the favourite for the £250,000 top prize now, however, judging by the way he has so far dispatched Nick Faldo nine and eight and then fellow Irishman Darren Clarke five and four.
For the second day running Harrington was in the third match to start and the first to finish.
His thrashing of Faldo had filled the Dubliner with confidence and he was never behind against Clarke either.
He could not quite match Torrance, but a burst of five successive threes in the afternoon effectively settled the encounter.
A five-iron to five feet brought an eagle on the 501-yard 22nd and then came a hat-trick of birdies from the 22nd to 24th, an eight-iron to six feet being followed by a wedge to six feet and eight-iron to 10 feet.
Clarke did recover from six down to four down, but threw his club after a horrid pull on the 30th and it was all over when he missed a four-footer two holes later.
