Matthew's title defence ends after taking ten on unlucky 13th

Published on Friday 30 July 2010 14:20

Catriona Matthew enjoyed a great year as the Ricoh Women's British Open Champion. But her defence ended so sadly yesterday when she fell foul of the rough at Royal Birkdale and ran up a ten at the 13th. Talk about unlucky.

An 81 for a 12 over par total left her outside the cut and 20 shots behind the leader, Yani Tseng. In fact, only one Scot made the weekend, Janice Moodie surviving four putts on the final hole to post a 76 for four over par.

Matthew's nightmare sextuple bogey was a disastrous catalogue of errors. She drove into a bramble bush, chipped out, blocked a third shot into knee-high rough and then had three hapless hacks to get out. Finally conceding defeat, she took a penalty drop, chipped onto the green and two-putted. To her credit, she went on to make a tap-in birdie two at the next hole.

But it was all but over, and her mood, understandably, was as gloomy as the rain-sodden clouds hanging over the notorious Open Championship links. Even her caddie husband, Graeme, couldn't do much to help.

"After the ten we didn't say a whole lot," she later admitted with a rueful smile. "There were five holes to go, it was pouring with rain and there was no way I could make the cut. So not much to speak about."

But she conceded there was one positive. They could drive home to North Berwick last night and catch up with daughters Katie (3) and Sophie (1), who had been staying with the grandparents for the past fortnight.

"It's a shame because it's not the way I would have liked to defend the title," said Matthew who, rather typically, showed not a hint of anger, just resignation, at the end of a day that must have been deeply disappointing. "I was hitting it really well on the range, but couldn't take it onto the course and never really got the putter working."

While the Scots struggled, Tseng soared to the top of the leaderboard. She was lucky to have an early starting time and finished just as the weather started to turn foul. By mid-afternoon it was lashing down.

The 21-year-old from Taiwan has already won two majors - the 2008 LPGA Championship and this year's Kraft Nabisco Championship - and has benefited from a winter picking the brains of Annika Sorenstam, the recently retired ten-time major winner.

"I talked to Annika about the mental side of the game and how I could become the world No 1 and she taught me a lot," said Florida-based Tseng. "She knows I play very aggressively and she told me to play smarter."

Tseng, a golfer since the age of five, grew up idolising Sorenstam and bought the Swede's house in Orlando a couple of years ago. So she feels there is another need to win this week - "the trophy room is looking a bit empty. I need more," she said.Tseng led by four from South Korea's Amy Yang and American Brittany Lincicome, who both shot 71, and Cristie Kerr, who had a best of championship 67.

A 12 shot winner of the LPGA Championship last month, Kerr is another chasing a third major and the 2007 US Women's Open Champion is desperate to end the year as the world No 1. She became the first American to hold the honour for three weeks after her win in Rochester, but is now third behind Jiyai Shin and Ai Miyazato.

"But I want it back," she said. "I've also been close to winning this title before and I just hope I can keep the momentum going over the weekend."