Golf: US star beats Matthew in quarter-finals

CATRIONA MATTHEW'S impressive run ended in a disappointing 5 and 3 defeat from American star Angela Stanford in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Sybase Matchplay Championship at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey.

North Berwick's Matthew, the Ricoh Women's British Open Champion, had been taken to the 18th in the first two rounds and then needed a birdie at the 19th to overcome South Korea's MJ Hur in the third round.

In the quarter-final, Matthew made a near-perfect start by winning two of the first three holes against Stanford, ranked four places higher as the No.11 seed.

But the US Solheim Cup player won the fourth and eighth to level the tie, won three holes in a row from the ninth and went four up with a birdie at the 13th. Another win with a par at the 15th brought the match to an end.

"The morning match was a real grind and it was good to make the quarter-finals," said Matthew, who next weekend defends the HSBC Brasil cup in Rio de Janeiro. "I just couldn't quite keep it going against Angela."

Matthew won the Brasil Cup a year past January when she was five months pregnant, and she is one of the 27-strong elite field that also includes Glasgow's Janice Moodie. The 36-hole tournament starts next Saturday.

Sun Young Yoo won four of the last five holes to take the Sybase Match Play title with a 3 and 1 victory over Angela Stanford.

The 23-year-old Korean landed her first LPGA Tour win having beaten world No.1 and compatriot Jiyai Shin in the semi-finals earlier in the day.