Sybase Match Play Championship - 1st Round

Top two seeds Jiyai Shin and Ai Miyazato got through the first round of the Sybase Match Play Championship.  So did Top 10 seedsYani Tseng, Cristie Kerr, Karrie Webb, Michelle Wie and Angela Stanford.  Suzann Pettersen, Anna Nordqvist and Na Yeon Choi were not so lucky.

23 of the 32 first-round matches went to the higher seeds - a number slightly better than in past events - but most of them were very close.  19 matches reached the 17^th hole and 14 of them required playing 18.  Six went to extra holes, including Pettersen's tough matchup with Juli Inkster.  A bogey at the 21^st hole knocked out the #3 seed.  #6 Nordqvist lost to Shi Hyun Ahn 2-up while Choi fell by a surprising 4&3 to Karine Icher.  The other upsets were #62 Beatriz Recari 1-up over #16 Brittany Lincicome, #61 Haeji Kang 1-up over #11 In-Kyung Kim, Azahara Munoz 3&2 over #17 Se Ri Pak, Sandra Gal 1-up over #22 Katherine Hull, Pat Hurst in 19 holes over #23 Brittany Lang and Amanda Blumenherst 1-up over #26 Stacy Lewis.

Grace Park put a big scare in #15 Catriona Matthew.  Down two with four to play, Matthew rallied with three straight birdies to advance 1-up.  #14 Morgan Pressel had to birdie the last three holes in regulation (winning two of them) to draw even with Jimin Kang before winning on the second extra hole.  #8 Michelle Wie went to 18 1-up on Stacy Prammanasudh and birdied it to finish 2-up.

My predictions took a whuppin', especially in the Sorenstam bracket.  Christina Kim fell 4&2 to Jee Young Lee, wiping out my overall 3^rd-place finisher.  The losses by Pettersen and Hull took out three-quarters of my second-round choices in that region.  If not for Pressel's late heroics, that part of the page would be demolished.  Three of my eight predicted quarter-finalists are already gone (Kim, Lincicome and Stupples).  Oh well...

I'll take a look at Friday's matchups in a later post.