Golf

Some say match play is the purest form of golf, the equivalent of hand-to-hand combat. There is a chance to find out this weekend as many of the world's best players, including six of the current top 10, head for Wentworth and the World Match Play Championship. Nick Faldo, who leaves Europe behind for the relatively easy riches of the US Tour next year, enjoys a bye into today's second round, along with Jose-Maria Olazabal, the US Masters champion.

Seve Ballesteros (above), however, despite having his best year for a while, had to endure a first-round match yesterday against the South African, David Frost, for the right to meet the US Open champion, Ernie Els. The mercurial Spaniard, five times the World Match Play Champion, first had to shrug off the injuries he sustained falling off his bike earlier in the week after catching his laces in a wheel. At 37 he may be in relative decline, but the crowds will still turn out to see him play.

(Photograph omitted)