Reuters
Saturday, January 6

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Pierre Fulke upset top-seeded Ernie Els in the semifinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship on Saturday and will face Steve Stricker in the 36-hole final Sunday.

	Els was the only player in the top 20 to reach the quarterfinals.

A Swede who is seeded 21st in the 64-player field and ranked 49th in the world, Fulke defeated Brad Faxon earlier in the day before bumping off the second-ranked player in the world, 2 and 1, in the $5 million event.

"It's been a long day," said Fulke, ranked second to Jesper Parnevik among Swedish players. "I think that's why both Ernie and me, we didn't at all get to the top of our games today in the afternoon."

One of only four top-10 players to travel to Metropolitan Golf Club, Els posted a 1-up victory over Craig Stadler in Saturday's quarterfinals, barely winning a match for the third straight day.

But his luck ran out later Saturday as Fulke never withered under the pressure of facing one of the world's best players.

"Trying to beat Ernie was the major thing this week, so far," said Fulke, 29. "Now, I've done that, so now, I have to regroup and focus again on tomorrow's match against Steve."

Fulke birdied the par-5 12th hole to take the lead for good. After a big drive by Els gave him the advantage, Fulke pushed his second shot but got into birdie position by bumping a 9-iron over a bunker.

With a birdie at the par-4 15th, Fulke had a 2-up lead with three of the six closing par-4s to play. He won it at the 17th, where Els hooked his tee shot into the rough.

Els showed his world-class talent with an seemingly impossible shot around a tree and onto the green but missed a 12-foot birdie putt while Fulke saved par.

"I obviously didn't have a good day today," said Els, who won two of his matches 1-up and another in 19 holes. "I think I hit maybe two good golf shots all afternoon, put it that way. Saying that, Pierre did what he had to do."

With Els' defeat, the top seed still has not won this event in the three years of its WGC existence. Tiger Woods came the closest last season, losing to Darren Clarke in the final.

Seeded 55th, Stricker continued his strong play, defeating No. 30 Toru Taniguchi of Japan, 2 and 1, to become the lowest seed ever to make it to the finals.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow," said Stricker, who was not included in the field a few weeks ago. "This is really kind of unbelievable, to tell you the truth."

Stricker took the lead when Taniguchi bogeyed the first hole, and he never relinquished it, going 2-up with a birdie on the par-4 fifth.

Called the best match-play golfer in Japan by countryman Shigeki Maruyama, Taniguchi was down three holes before winning Nos. 12 and 13. But Stricker took the 16th to regain a two-hole lead.

"I realize that there are so many ups and downs in the course of a match in the day," said Stricker, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour. "I really wasn't too worried."

With Stricker's run, an American has made it to the final in each of the last three years. Before Woods, Jeff Maggert downed Andrew Magee in the 1999 all-American final.

With a deadly putter, Stricker advanced to the semifinals by outlasting lefthander Nick O'Hern over 20 holes. The 63rd seed, O'Hern advanced farther than any Australian in the field.

"It's been a nice ride," said O'Hern, ranked 103rd in the world. "It would have been good to keep going, but Steve just holed too many putts toward the end there for me to get through, and I probably let him in when I shouldn't have."

Fulke also needed extra holes to survive the quarterfinals, defeating 45th seed Faxon in 19 holes.

Els made it to the semifinals with a 1-up victory over No. 57 Stadler while Taniguchi defeated No. 22 Maruyama, 2 and 1. The two semifinal losers will meet in an 18-hole consolation match Sunday.

Stricker and Fulke have emerged from a watered-down field en route to the $1 million final. Woods and standouts David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie, among others, refused to make the trip.

The event is being played on one of the best courses in Australia. The Metropolitan has a scoreable front nine, with three par-3s and three par-5s, but finishes with six challenging par-4s.