Stanford rules over Catriona Matthew in States

SCOTLAND'S Catriona Matthew won her third round match at the 19th hole against South Korea's MJ Hur but then lost 5 and 3 to American Angela Stanford in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Sybase Matchplay Championships at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Matthew, the Ricoh Women's British Open Champion, had scraped through on the final green to win her first two matches and had to go to an extra hole before beating out Hur.

All square at the turn, Matthew had vital birdies at the short holes on the back nine. She made a two to go one up at the 12th then lost the 14th to a par before putting for another two a the short 16th. The North Berwick 40-year-old lost the 18th to a par four, but the birdie at the 19th saw her advance to the last eight. She was the last of the Europeans in the draw.

In the quarter-final, Matthew, the No.15 seed, made a fast start by winning two of the first three holes against Stanford, the tenth seed.

But then the wheels came off for the Scot. Stanford 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 win with a par at the 15th for the US Solheim Cup player brought the match to an end.

"The morning match was quite up ad down and it was nice to go through," said Matthew. "It was just a pity that I couldn't quite keep it going in the afternoon."

Scotland's Martin Laird rebounded from an opening 72 to shoot 67 and progress at one under par, leaving just three Europeans – England's Greg Owen and Germany's Alex Cejka were the others – inside the projected cut line at level par.