Catriona Matthew's matchplay quest ends in defeat to Stanford

THE final European player in the field, Catriona Matthew's great run in the inaugural Sybase Matchplay Championship came to an end in a quarterfinal defeat from the US Solheim Cup player Angela Stanford, at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Matthew, the Ricoh Women's British Open Champion, needed a birdie at the 19th to beat South Korea's M J Hur in the third round, but the 40-year-old Scot then lost by 5 and 3 to Stanford.

In the quarter-final, Matthew won two of the first three holes against Stanford, who had needed two extra holes to beat fellow American Amanda Blumenherst in the previous round.

But Stanford, four places higher as the No 11 seed, won the fourth and eighth to level the tie and then won three holes in a row from the ninth and went four up with a birdie at the 13th. Another American win with a par at the 15th brought the match to an end.

"The morning match was quite up ad down with a few long putts and a few mistakes," said Matthew. "It was a real grind to get through. But it just didn't go so well in the afternoon."

Stanford added: "It was a quick turnaround after the morning round and Catriona was always going to be tough. I was delighted to go through."