Scotland
currently lie bottom of their Group 2 table despite Paul Lawries heroics on the
18th hole in his match against Japan's Katsuyoshi Tomori but unlike his Open victory
at Carnoustie in July, the tale wasn’t to have a happy ending.
Following a double bogey at the 17th hole after finding the path behind the green,
he was one shot behind standing on the final tee. Knowing that Scotland had already
lost their opening match when Sam Torrance crashed to 57-year-old Isao Aoki 76-71,
Lawrie needed to produce a miracle to keep any hopes alive of the Scots winning.
Faced with a 77-yard
pitch, the Open champion punched in a sand wedge and with the aid of some side
spin the ball found the hole for an eagle two. However, Tomuri demonstrated why
he is fast becoming a well respected player around the world, as he almost holed
his approach and so the game went into sudden death.
Another superb shot from the Japanese player set up a birdie at the first extra
hole as Lawrie could only muster a bogey after three putting when he went long
with his second shot. In the final match, Gary Orr secured a 69-71 win over Tsuyoshi
Yoneyama to no avail as it could not save the Scots.
Scotland will now have to rely on other results as even if they beat Australia
3-0 on Saturday, they face elimination if Japan whitewash Paraguay.
In the other Group 2 match, Paraguay, who had pushed Scotland all the way on Thursday,
claimed another noteable scalp in their Dunhill Cup history denting Australia’s
hopes of qualifying.
It started well for Australia when Peter O’Malley put the first point on the board
defeating Raul Fretes but it was left to the Franco brothers to steer Paraguay
to glory.
First,
the older of the two siblings Angel Franco beat Stephen Leaney 73-74 to level
things before the more famous of the two and twice a winner on the US Tour this
season , Carlos held his nerve to defeat Craig Parry. After both players had fired
rounds of 70, Franco birdied the second extra hole to leave Group 2 wide open.
Italy produced
the biggest shock of the day when they defeated the mighty Americans 3-0 as both
the unseeded countries in Group 1 won.
America face the realistic possibility of a quick return home even if they beat
Sweden 3-0 because Italy will qualify for the Semi-finals if they win against
New Zealand.
The
three Ryder Cup stars - all ranked in the world's top 25 - could have been out
of the title hunt tonight. But New Zealand's 2-1 victory over the Swedes kept
them alive.
A closing
birdie from Italy’s most famous player Costantino Rocca, now ranked 121 in the
world, helped to a 70-72 victory over American captain Mark O’Meara.
