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Fulke is Europe's last
remaining hope
Andrew Coltart went out
of the Accenture world match play championship in dramatic fashion in Melbourne
today.
Three up on former US Masters
champion Craig Stadler with six holes to play in their third round clash, Coltart
was taken to sudden death and after thinking he had hit the shot which might win
the match he saw the American seconds later strike the shot which did.
The 30-year-old Scot's 156-yard
seven-iron to the 19th was arrow-straight and came down a foot short of the hole,
but ran eight feet past.
It still gave him a birdie
chance, but suddenly he had to make it when Stadler's second came down in almost
the identical spot - and stopped dead by the hole.
Coltart, having holed putts
of 12 and five feet on the previous two greens to stay on terms, could not do
it again and so failed to go through to meet top seed Ernie Els in tonight's quarter-finals.
Els, the only one of the
top 20 seeds to reach the last eight, did so only by the skin of his teeth, also
going to the 19th before beating France's Jean Van de Velde in a match which developed
quite an edge to it over theclosing stretch.
The only European left in
is Swede Pierre Fulke, who after winning the Volvo Masters in November virtually
clinched a Ryder Cup debut in September byholing a 25-foot putt to beat New Zealander
Michael Campbell on the last.
Fulke now faces Brad Faxon,
who put out fellow American and fourth seed Tom Lehman by one hole, while in the
other two quarter-finals Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern plays American Steve
Stricker and Japanese pair Shigeki Maruyama and Toru Taniguchi clash.
Before departing for a holiday
in the Maldives - one he did not want to start until next week - Coltart said:
"That was tough.
"I must admit I was
chuffed with my shot at the 19th, but it was a helluva riposte, wasn't it?
"I tried to keep on
going as he was coming back at me, but there was nothing I could do. It was still
a good week, but obviously it could have been even better."
Coltart left with a cheque
for just over £50,000, but reaching the quarter-finals would have guaranteed
him double that - and winning on Sunday would have earned him over £668,000.
Stadler's fightback began
with a 40-foot putt at the 13th after he was lucky not to follow Coltart into
a bunker. He won the 15th as well, but needed only a par there after Lee Westwood's
brother-in-law drove into the rough and failed to get the flyer expected.
An eight-foot birdie putt
at the 16th brought the 47-year-old Californian - oldest player in the field and
playing his first tournament since early September - on level terms and he did
not make a mistake after that.
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