VIRGINIA WATER, England, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Ian Woosnam completed one of the most impressive weeks of golf in his long career Sunday by defeating Padraig Harrington, 2 & 1, to become the oldest champion in the 38-year history of the Cisco World Match Play Championship.
Woosnam, 43, shot a 28 on the first nine holes of the 36-hole match, but Harrington fired a 29 on the back nine of the Wentworth Club's West Course to leave the duel all even at the break.
Harrington then took a 3-up lead only to see Woosnam rally and build a 2-up advantage with three to play. Woosnam closed out the match with a seven-foot birdie putt at the 17th to equal Harrington's tap-in birdie on the par-5 hole.
Woosnam won the event for the third time and each victory has come in a different decade. Greg Norman and Ernie Els also have been three-time winners of the tournament while Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player won it five times each.
Unseeded, nursing a sore back and having received a late invitation after a series of players withdrew, Woosnam defeated four big-time opponents.
He won over U.S. Open champion and European Tour leading money winner Retief Goosen in the opening round, defeated seven-time European money winner Colin Montgomerie in the quarterfinals and routed 2000 money winner and defending champion Lee Westwood in the semifinals.
And in Harrington, Woosnam won over a player who has finished second on the European seven times this season and is ranked 15th in the world.
"It has certainly been worth the wait and effort," Woosnam said. "I am really overjoyed. I beat four great players this week. Obviously, as you get older it is more difficult to win and after four years you don't know what is going to happen, but all I can say is that I played really well."
"I am totally and utterly disgusted," Harrington said. "The ball was in my court. I was in control and it was totally my fault. Woosie played lovely golf though. When he gets on a roll as he did in the morning, he's a tough man to beat."
