Sybase Match Play Championship - 2nd Round

Jiyai Shin, Yani Tseng and Michelle Wie advanced to the weekend at the Sybase Match Play Championship.  Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr and Karrie Webb did not.

Friday's matches were a bit more one-sided than Thursday's.  Only one match went to extra holes and two others reached 18.  Shin birdied 17 to defeat Hee-Won Han 3&1.  Tseng led all day and was 5-up through 10 holes but withstood a late rush by Candie Kung to win 2&1.  Wie lost only one hole all day - at 12 with the match well in hand - and beat Hee Young Park 5&4.  Miyazato was 2-up with three to play but three straight birdies by M.J. Hur sent the #2 seed home.  Kerr trailed by four after 10, got two of them back but succumbed 4&2 when Sun Young Yoo birdied 15 and 16.  Webb's match equaled the most one-sided of the day - she didn't win a single hole as Amanda Blumenherst shut her out 7&6.  The other lopsided score came at the expense of Juli Inkster, who also fell to Amy Yang 7&6 without winning a hole.  Angela Stanford was 4-up through 12 and held on to beat Pat Hurst 4&2.  Haeji Kang took four straight holes early and closed out Sandra Gal 3&1 with a birdie at 17.

The seven other matches were reasonably close.  Morgan Pressel came back late and won in extra holes for the second straight day, birdying 17 and 18 to square her match with Sophie Gustafson and making it three in a row at the 19^th to win.  Jee Young Lee took a 1-up lead at the 1^st hole and then halved 14 in a row with Shi Hyun Ahn.  Ahn bogeyed 16 to go 2-down and Lee closed it out with a halve at 17.  Think about that for a moment - Shi Hyun won the same number of holes today as Inkster and Webb, but somehow she only lost 2&1!  Catriona Matthew led all day but Kristy McPherson never fell more than two behind.  Matthew went 2-up with a birdie at 15, McPherson responded at 16 but missed a good birdie chance at 17 which would have evened things up.  Catriona birded 18 to win 2-up.  Inbee Park birdied 15 to go 3-up on Maria Hjorth but Hjorth stayed alive with a birdie at 16 before Park closed her out 2&1.  Song-Hee Kim was 2-up over Momoko Ueda through 12 but Momoko took two straight to square the match.  Song-Hee proceeded to birdie 15 and 16 to regain her two-hole lead and Ueda's bogey at 17 made that final 3&1.  Beatriz Recari went 2-up when Azahara Munoz bogeyed 10.  The pair halved the next seven holes, handing the win to Recari 2&1.  Karine Icher was 4-up through 11 but Eun-Hee Ji won three of the next five to draw within one.  Icher birdied 17 to clinch it 2&1.

Miyazato's loss completely nuked my original bracket as I had her reaching the final.  My record today was 6-10 (eight of them were impossible to win because my pick had lost yesterday), bringing my total to 27-21.  As for my revamped picks from this morning, I went 10-6.  Looking ahead to tomorrow's early matches (remember, the winners of these play tomorrow afternoon as well):

#1 Jiyai Shin vs. #62 Beatriz Recari

#8 Michelle Wie vs. #57 Karine Icher

#4 Yani Tseng vs. #13 Inbee Park

#12 Song-Hee Kim vs. #28 Sun Young Yoo

#15 Catriona Matthew vs #31 M.J. Hur

#10 Angela Stanford vs #55 Amanda Blumenherst

#14 Morgan Pressel vs. #30 Amy Yang

#27 Jee Young Lee vs. #61 Haeji Kang

With all the upsets we've had, it's a little surprising to see only one third-round match with nobody from the top 15 seeds.  It's even more surprising to see four players from the last ten seeds (55-64) and only four ranging from 16-54.  The mid-range players are usually the ones pulling most of the upsets, not the bottom ones.

What the heck, I'll try picking these matches too.  I'll go with Shin, Wie, Tseng, SH Kim, Matthew, Blumenherst, Pressel and Jelly.