Wood through, Lawrie crashes out

European Tour

Chris Wood advanced to the last 16 of the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay on Friday, while host Paul Lawrie was knocked out.

The Englishman needed just two and a half hours to reach the third round with a comprehensive 5 and 4 victory over Spain’s Jorge Campillo on day two of the inaugural competition at Murcar Links in Aberdeen.

It was his second big win of the tournament, after he dispatched South African Jbe Kruger by the same margin on Thursday.

Wood gained the ascendancy right from the get-go, birdying his first two holes before going 3-up when Campillo found himself in trouble on the third.

He would go four up on the fifth, and though Campillo hit back to win holes eight and nine, the writing was on the wall when the Spaniard again lost the 10th.

Wood would again go 4-up with by winning the 12th and closed out the victory on the 14th.

The 27-year-old moves on to face France’s Julien Quesne, who defeated Jeev Milkha Singh of India by a 4 and 3 margin.

“It was good to get another good win under my belt, a second 5 and 4, which is great to conserve the energy for hopefully a potentially long weekend.”

“I started off really nicely and when you get a nice lead like that early on, it is quite hard to come back.”

Tournament host Paul Lawrie bowed out, going down by 1 hole in a narrow loss to countryman Chris Doak.

“I hit it horrendous today and you can’t get off with hitting the ball as poorly as that,” Lawrie admitted. “I’m disappointed, gutted, but when you play like that at this level you seldom get away with it.”

Joining Doak in the next round were fellow Scotsmen Richie Ramsay and Marc Warren.

Warren beat Fabrizio Zanotti by 3 and 2 while Ramsay secured a 4 and 3 victory over Edoardo Molinari.

“I knew it was going to be very tough today,” said Ramsay, referring to the strong winds that characterised the day and a torrential downpour midway through the round.

“Edoardo is a class player and when he gets going with the putter, he’s probably one of the best in the world.

“But I just played really steady golf and made a few putts which was nice. I needed to, because we halved three holes in birdies, and was then steady down the stretch, especially when the wind got up and the rain came in. Very pleased with the day’s work.”

Others to advance included Michael Hoey, 5 and 4 over Kristoffer Broberg, and Gregory Havret, who beat Seve Bendon 2 and 1.

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