Golf: Torrance falls to Hoch

Greg Norman and Scott Hoch are through to the final of the Andersen Consulting World Championship after semi-final victories on Saturday over Hisayuki Sasaki and Sam Torrance respectively.

Norman cruised to a 5 and 4 victory over Sasaki in the pounds 2.4m event in Scottsdale, Arizona, while Torrance described his 4 and 2 defeat by Hoch as "like running into a brick wall". The American winner reeled off seven birdies and an eagle, and said: "It doesn't get a whole lot better. I had only one poor shot."

It took Hoch a while to shrug off Torrance. Both players birdied the second and third holes before the American eagled the par-four fourth with a six-iron from 172 yards and took a telling advantage at the 10th.

"Scott played great," Torrance said. "On the front nine we knocked the flag out every hole. The back nine was frustrating. Ten was a killer because it looked like I was going to get back to all square."

Norman, who lost the first hole to Sasaki's birdie, won the next four and ended the match by sinking a bunker shot from 20ft for a birdie at the 14th.

Scores, Digest, page 19