Miyazato, Lee to battle for Match Play title

New Rochelle, NY (Sports Network) - Ai Miyazato cruised to a 3 & 2 win over Maria Hjorth on Sunday to advance to the final at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship.
Miyazato, the 12th seed, moves on to face 22nd-seed Seon Hwa Lee, who claimed a 2-up win over Mi Hyun Kim.
Lee picked up her lone tour crown last year at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Miyazato has not won a tour event, but did win the 2005 Qualifying Tournament.
Miyazato won the third and fifth with pars to take an early 2-up lead. She bogeyed the seventh to drop her lead over 40th-seeded Hjorth to 1-up.
The duo traded wins at 11 and 12, but Hjorth fell 2-down as she bogeyed the 14th. Miyazato closed out the match with a par on the par-five 16th.
Lee birdied the first, but Kim fought back to take the third and fourth to move 1-up. Kim bogeyed the fifth to square the match. Lee dropped in a birdie on the par-five ninth and moved 2-up when Kim bogeyed No. 11.
The pair split the 12th and 13th before Kim got back within 1-down as Lee bogeyed the par-five 16th Wykagyl Country Club. After they both parred 17, Lee birdied the par-five closing hole to close out the 2-up win.
Miyazato and Lee will tee off at 1:45 p.m. (et), while Kim and Hjorth will battle for third place in the consolation match at 1:30 p.m.

Mi Hyun Kim, Miyazato head to quarters in Match Play

New Rochelle, NY (Sports Network) - Mi Hyun Kim carded a 3 & 2 win over Rachel Hetherington in Saturday's third round at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship at Wykagyl Country Club.
Kim, who is the highest remaining seed at No. 10, moves on to face Jee Young Lee, who beat Laura Diaz 2-up. Just five holes were won in the Hetherington- Kim match, with Kim winning four of them, including three in a five-hole stretch from the 12th.
Lee led 1-up around the turn, but Diaz squared things with a par on 13. Diaz bogeyed 15 and 16 to fall 2-down and they split 17 and 18 giving Lee the 2-up victory.
The third round was completed earlier Saturday, while the quarterfinals will take place Saturday afternoon with the semifinals and finals on Sunday.
Ai Miyazato, the 12th seed, fended off Christina Kim 2 & 1. Miyazato will battle Amy Hung in the quarters. Hung needed 19 holes to beat Carin Koch. Hung, the 61st seed, is the highest seeded players remaining.
Miyazato won the fifth and sixth to go 1-up. She later won the 11th to move 2- up, but Christina Kim won the 12th. Miyazato again moved 2-up with a birdie on 16 and she won the match as they both parred the 17th.
Hung was 2-up after four, but Koch would not go away easily. A four-time Solheim Cup performer for the European squad, Koch won the 17th and 18th to force extra holes. However, she bogeyed the 19th to lose 1-down.
Seon Hwa-Lee led all the way as she defeated Laura Davies 2 & 1. Lee, the 22nd seed, moves on to battle 35th-seed Lindsey Wright.
Lee took the first with a bogey and the fourth with birdie for the early lead. A par on the ninth pushed her lead to 3-up. Davies did win No. 14, but she was unable to overcome the 2-down deficit from there.
Wright, who beat Annika Sorenstam in round two Friday, birdied the par-three 17th to claim a 1-up win over former Women's British Open champion Jeong Jang. Wright, who was 2-down after two, claimed the sixth and seventh to square the match.
The duo traded wins on 12 and 13 before Wright's late birdie gave her the win.
The last quarterfinal match will feature 40th-seed Maria Hjorth and 33rd-seed Meaghan Francella.
Hjorth birdied the 19th hole to down Angela Stanford. Hjorth was 1-up through seven, but Stanford birdied the 12th to even the match. They traded wins on 14 and 15 before Hjorth birdied the 19th to advance.
Francella, who took down Lorena Ochoa in the second round Friday, won the first two holes Saturday and eventually held on for a 2 & 1 win over four-time U.S. Solheim Cupper Pat Hurst.
They battled back and forth through the front nine as no holes were halved. Hurst actually led 1-up after nine, but Francella won three straight from the 13th, with a birdie and two pars, to pull 2-up. She moved on as they matched pars on 16 and 17.

Ochoa rolls at Match Play

New Rochelle, NY (Sports Network) - Women's World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa rolled to a 6 & 5 win over Ashleigh Simon in Thursday's opening round of the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship at Wykagyl Country Club.
Ochoa, who beat Paula Creamer to take third in this event last year, already has racked up three wins in the 2007 season.
As Ochoa advanced, several big names went down. Second-seeded Karrie Webb watched as 63rd-seeded Charlotte Mayorkas birdied the 18th for a 1-up win.
Amy Hung dropped the first, but won three of the next four holes en route to romping over U.S. Women's Open champion and fourth-seed Cristie Kerr, 5 & 4.
Kraft Nabisco winner Morgan Pressel bogeyed the last to lose 2-down to 59th seed and former U.S. Women's Open winner Birdie Kim. It was Kim who holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker in 2005 to beat then amateurs Pressel and Brittany Lincicome.
Also falling on Thursday were Juli Inkster, Ji-Yai Shin and Lincicome, the 2006 champion.
Inkster, the ninth seed, lost 4 & 3 to Hye Jung Choi, while the 11th-seeded Shin lost 1-down in 19 holes to Janice Moodie.
Four-time European Solheim Cupper Carin Koch won four of five holes from the 10th to take down Lincicome, 4 & 3.
The first two years of this event has produced winners who were ranked 60th, Marisa Baena in 2005, and 39th, Lincicome last year at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in New Jersey.
Ochoa birdied the second and fourth, then won the fifth with a par to grab a quick 3-up lead on Simon. The Mexican won four straight holes from the eighth to go 7-up.
Simon birdied the 12th to push the match to No. 13, but that was all she could do. Ochoa and Simon parred the par-three 13th giving Ochoa the big win. Ochoa moves on to play 33rd-see Meaghan Francella, who was a 2 & 1 winner of Meena Lee, the 32nd seed.
"I think it's always important in match play to get off to a good start," Ochoa stated. "I made a good putt on the second hole, from probably 25 feet, and I started 1-up. It gave me good momentum."
Webb was 2-up after five, but lost the next two holes. Mayorkas squared the match with a birdie on the par-four 12th and then claimed the 1-up win with a birdie on 18.
Sorenstam also was 2-up after two, but Hull rallied to take the lead winning three of the next four holes. Sorenstam birdied the eighth to even the match. After Sorenstam took the 12th, Hull won back-to-back holes from the 13th.
The Swede took 16 and 17 with birdies, but Hull birdied the 18th to force extra holes. However, Hull faltered to a double-bogey at the 20th hole to lose the match. Sorenstam will now battle 35th-seeded Lindsey Wright, who bested 30th-seed Brittany Lang 4 & 3.
"It was a thriller. There was a lot of drama out there," admitted Sorenstam. "I thought we played some good golf, especially the back nine. It was birdies back and forth. It was a fun match I thought. I missed a few shots, but overall I think I played really well, putted well and hung in there."
Among the other winners in round one were Stacy Prammanasudh, Ai Miyazato, Paula Creamer, McDonald's LPGA winner Suzann Pettersen and Se Ri Pak, who fended off Pressel to win last week's Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
With Webb, Kerr and Pressel, other prominent players who lost in the opening round were Shi Hyun Ahn, Natalie Gulbis, Young Kim and Laura Diaz.