Sunday 19 October 2014 08:51, UK
Joost Luiten of the Netherlands maintained his 100 per cent record as he cruised into the semi-finals of the Volvo World Match Play Championship at the London Club.
Luiten was the only player to win all three of his group matches en route to the quarter-finals and was equally impressive in recording the largest winning margin of the week by thrashing Spain's Pablo Larrazabal 6&5.
The 28-year-old, who was considered for a Ryder Cup wild card by European captain Paul McGinley, was gifted the opening hole when Larrazabal found water with his approach to the par five, and then won the second, fifth, sixth and seventh to move five up.
Luiten moved further ahead with a birdie on the 11th and even when Larrazabal recorded just his second birdie of the day on the 12th, Luiten followed him in from 20 feet for a half before closing out the match on the next.
Luiten will face Mikko Ilonen in the last four after the Finn beat Frenchman Victor Dubuisson 2up.
Dubuisson recorded two eagles and five birdies but also made bogeys on three of the four par threes while Ilonen carded eight birdies and no dropped shots.
"It felt like it could have gone either way and I was lucky to come out on top in the end," Ilonen said. "The goal was obviously to play all week and we're there. So now we just have to keep pushing."
South Africa's George Coetzee could turn a last-minute call-up into easily the biggest payday of his career after producing a brilliant display to beat Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed.
Coetzee only got into the event on Monday as a replacement for the injured Thomas Bjorn and at 89th in the world was the lowest ranked player in the 16-man field.
But the 28-year-old was eight under par in beating Reed 2&1 in their quarter-final and is just two more wins away from the first prize of 650,000 euros. His previous biggest cheque of 206,000 euros came from winning his first European Tour title in the Joburg Open in February.
"I wish I could get into every tournament as the last man if this is the golf I'm going to play," joked Coetzee, who will face Henrik Stenson in the last four after the world No 5 beat fellow Swede Jonas Blixt by two holes.
Coetzee finished 21st in the rain-shortened Portugal Masters on Sunday and admitted he would have flown home to South Africa if any flights were available.
But when tournament organisers told him he was first reserve and that they wanted him on site, he asked his manager to check if anyone was likely to withdraw.
"I told him the only guy who might was Thomas Bjorn because he was the oldest guy and he might be tired of playing golf," Coetzee added. "He phoned me back and said the rumour was true and Bjorn had withdrawn. I told him it wasn't a rumour, I had just made it up!"
"If my flight had been Sunday night it would have been a totally different story. It could be lucrative timing."
Reed, who was the United States' top points scorer on his debut at Gleneagles, said: "I played well and any time you are six under you would hopefully win the match but George played extremely well.
"He beat me in extra holes in the Accenture Match Play earlier this year but that was a match where we both played really poorly and it was more of a pillow fight. Today was just one of those things about match play - even if you play really well you can still get beat."
Stenson and Coetzee met in the group stages on Wednesday and finished all square, Coetzee adding: "He kind of gave me that half. He missed a putt to win the match on the 17th and three-putted the last so I won't be going in feeling too confident."
Stenson was three up on a wayward Blixt with five holes to play but saw his compatriot birdie the 14th and 15th to force the match to the 18th.
"Everyone comes back at me," Stenson said. "No one lets me have an easy finish here, which you kind of expect that but not every time. He definitely pushed an old man all the way to the last there and made it very interesting."
