McGinley hoping fate leads him to £1m jackpot

PAUL MCGINLEY hopes destiny can take him all the way to a £1million jackpot at Wentworth this weekend.

Fri, 16 Sep, 2005 - 01:00

Mark Garrod

The 38-year-old beat Thomas Bjorn six and five in the opening round of the HSBC World Match Play Championship and next meets Ryder Cup team-mate Luke Donald, who had an even more convincing seven and six victory over Bernhard Langer.

McGinley made a remarkable post-lunch surge to beat Bjorn. The Dane was one-up through 22 holes, but lost seven of the next eight holes - a run which included McGinley sinking an 85-yard pitch for an eagle two at the 29th.

"I was the last man in and hopefully I'll be the last man standing," said McGinley.

"Maybe fate and destiny is on my side," added McGinley, who is making his debut in the event.

Although the world's top four are all absentees this year, McGinley needs no reminding who has won in the past.

"The list of champions is unbelievable. There's not a tournament in the world that would have the quality of champions you've had in this tournament over the years.

"This is a huge, huge, huge event. The winners of it are magnificent. They really are magnificent."

Colin Montgomerie is still searching for his first tournament win since March last year after suffering a surprise first round defeat.

From four up after 13 holes, British Open runner-up Montgomerie went off the boil and saw his bid for the title end with a 2&1 loss to Australian Mark Hensby, another debutant in the event who to most of those watching was not even as well known as his caddie.

Swede Fanny Sunesson helped Nick Faldo win the title - and four of his six majors - before ending their partnership at the end of last year.

Hensby jumped at the chance of using her experience (just as he did to capture the Scandinavian Masters in July) and after overcoming Montgomerie to set up a quarter-final with top seed Retief Goosen said: "She's such a great caddie. With all that experience she had with Nick she says the right things at the right times.

"It's been a really good match for us so far. We did a lot of work on the greens in practice and I have a pretty good memory, but once in a while I got confused and asked her.

"When I got here and found out I was playing Colin I didn't think much of it until I went to dinner (in the clubhouse) and saw his name on every board.

"I sat down and said to Fanny 'Does he like this course?' She said 'Oh yeah, we're going to have a hard match.'"

For the second year running, Goosen raced into the last eight. After a record 12&11 victory over Jeff Maggert last October he thrashed England's Kenneth Ferrie by 8&7.

European Open champion Ferrie, ranked 109th in the world and the tournament outsider, took the opening hole, but was never ahead again.

The compensation for all the first round losers was that they still took home £60,000.

Three Europeans are through to the last eight and a guaranteed £80,000 - but that was always going to be the case the way the draw worked out.

And with Ryder Cup team-mates Donald and McGinley, both making their debuts, now facing each other a semi-finalist is assured too.

Donald hammered Bernhard Langer, who a year ago showed how highly he rated him by giving him a Ryder Cup wild card, seven and six.

Donald never looked back from taking four of the first six holes against the 48-year-old German, who first appeared in the championship in 1981.

The other all-European first round clash was between David Howell - another first-timer - and Jose Maria Olazabal and it went the Spaniard's way thanks to a magnificent closing eagle three.

Olazabal hit a fairway wood to seven feet to shut out Howell to line up a match with second seed Angel Cabrera, winner of the BMW Championship on the course in May.

The other quarter-final is between New Zealand's US Open champion Michael Campbell and Australian Steve Elkington.

Campbell went from six-up to all square against Australian Geoff Ogilvy, but won by one, while Elkington toppled south African Tim Clark six and five.

First round results at Wentworth

(Seeded positions in brackets)

(1) Retief Goosen (Rsa) bt (16) Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 8 and 7

(8) Colin Montgomerie (Sco) lost to (9) Mark Hensby (Aus) 2 and 1

(5) Tim Clark (Rsa) lost to (12) Steve Elkington (Aus) 6 and 5

(4) Michael Campbell (Nzl) bt (13) Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 1 hole

(5) Luke Donald (Eng) bt (14) Bernhard Langer (Ger) 7 and 6

(6) Thomas Bjorn (Den) lost to (11) Paul McGinley (Irl) 6 and 5

(7) David Howell (Eng) lost to (10) Jose-M Olazabal (Spa) 1 hole

(2) Angel Cabrera (Arg) bt (15) Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 2 and 1

Tee-off times for today's quarter-finals

0830 and 1330 (1) Retief Goosen (Rsa) v (9) Mark Hensby (Aus)