Garcia to meet Els in Match Play final

Sergio Garcia chipped in at the 35th hole to beat Michael Campbell 2 & 1 today to reach his first World Match Play Championship…

Sergio Garcia chipped in at the 35th hole to beat Michael Campbell 2 & 1 today to reach his first World Match Play Championship final.

The 22-year-old will meet three-times winner Ernie Els in tomorrow's showdown after the South African, always ahead in his semi-final against Fiji's Vijay Singh, eased to a comfortable 3 & 2 win in the second match.

Garcia had been behind for much of the time in his clash with Campbell at Wentworth's West Course but finally edged ahead by one with a birdie-four at the 30th hole.

He doubled his lead when Campbell bogeyed the 31st but a bogey-five from the Spaniard two holes later trimmed his advantage to just one hole.

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But Garcia, the world number five, responded immediately. He birdied the 34th and then sealed victory when he holed a chip-and-run from 90 yards at the next hole.

Despite going three down after just six holes, Garcia whittled away at Campbell's early lead and reached the lunch interval on level terms after carding a six-under-par 66 for the first 18 holes.

In the other semi-final, second seed Els dominated from the start.

Three ahead after the first 18 holes, he extended his lead to four when Singh hit his second shot at the 19th into the trees before making a bogey-five.

Both players birdied the short par-five 22nd before British Open champion Els increased his advantage to five after chipping in from a bunker at the next hole.

A 15-foot birdie putt from Singh at the 26th cut the deficit to four, and Els lost further ground when he three-putted from 45 feet for a bogey at the 29th.

The Fijian then eagled the par-five 30th to close the gap to two, before Els sank a 15-foot birdie putt at the next hole to restore his three-hole cushion.

Both players parred the 32nd and 33rd holes before Els secured his place in the final for the fifth time in nine starts with a two-putt from 22 feet for par at the 34th.

Els, who won an unprecedented three successive World Match Play titles between 1994 and 1996, had mixed four birdies with one bogey in the first 18 holes for a three-under-par 69.

Singh, winner of the event in 1997, carded a 73 that included four birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey six at 16, where he was wayward off the tee.