South Africa meets Spain in final

Chasing a third Alfred Dunhill Cup title in four years, South Africa charged into the final by beating Wales 2-0 today and will face defending titlist Spain for the last championship in the tournament's 16-year history.

Chasing a third Alfred Dunhill Cup title in four years, South Africa charged into the final by beating Wales 2-0 today and will face defending titlist Spain for the last championship in the tournament's 16-year history.

The Spaniards reached their third final in a row by downing Argentina 2-1 in the other semifinal with Jose Maria Olazabal leading the way with a 69. Olazabal faced Ernie Els in the third match of the final in a meeting of the two players with the best records in the competition.

David Frost met Miguel Angel Martin in the opening match and Retief Goosen faced Miguel Angel Jimenez with 300,000 pounds (dlrs 450,000) at stake for the winning trio.

Olazabal had compiled rounds of 66, 67, 72 and 69 in his four victories while Els also was unbeaten with 68, 67, 68 and a 69 to beat Welshman David Park by eight strokes.

The South Africans won the title in 1997 and '98 and reached the semifinal last year. They kept an unchanged team going into this tournament, announced by the sponsors on Saturday as being the last before it is replaced by the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with a totally different format.

Frost put the South Africans ahead with a 2-under 70 and a six-stroke victory over Ian Woosnam. Els then clinched victory by crushing Park while the Goosen-Phillip Price match ended all square with the players tied on 68.

The team loss was an unfortunate finish for Price, who had won all his previous matches with rounds of 70, 69 and 69.

In the other semifinal, Olazabal recovered from a bogey 5 at the fourth by collecting five birdies in the next 10 holes. Three behind Angel Cabrera at the turn, the Spaniard turned the match around on the homeward nine as the Argentine player, out in 32, bogeyed the 11th and last two holes to return a 71 and lose by two strokes.

Eduardo Romero tied the match up at 1-1 with a 69 and a two-stroke victory over Jimenez and the place in the final went down to the third game between Martin and Jose Coceres who were level going to the 15th.

But Coceres bogeyed 15 and 16 to go two down and, although he birdied the last, Martin managed to par the last four holes to hold on for a 71 and a one-stroke victory.