Perez Ryder Cup boost

IN TERMS of the scoreboard, European interest in the WGC-Match Play Championship ended at the semi-final stage on Saturday. In terms of a watchable spectacle for a worldwide audience, interest ended long before American Billy Horschel put the finishing touches to his 3&2 win over Victor Perez from France. With Matt Kuchar and Scottie Scheffler contesting the other semi-final — won by the latter — it wasn’t as if the final four were bursting with charisma anyway. But the quartet did themselves no favours by playing at such a slow pace that the temptation to switch channels must have been irresistible. Four hours and 10 minutes to play an 18-hole match? Er, no thanks.

This wasn’t golf for diehards only. It was golf for masochists only. Perez had no fewer than six bogeys on a breezy day in Austin, Texas, but it shouldn’t detract from a fine week’s work from the 28-year-old, who’s now all but certain to make Europe’s Ryder Cup side. Horschel moved on to an afternoon final against Scheffler, who went to college in Austin at the University of Texas. The 24-year-old from Dallas brought the match to a merciful conclusion with a birdie at the 17th to set up a one-hole win.