Gladstone, NJ – On a day when many of the top seeds advanced at the Sybase Match Play Championship, Cristie Kerr fell.
The fifth-seeded Kerr lost Friday to Vicky Hurst, 1-up, after dropping the first extra hole. They were all square through 18, but Kerr stumbled to a bogey at the next hole at Hamilton Farm Golf Club.
Hurst managed par to earn the victory and advance to Saturday's third round.
While Kerr, last year's runner-up, suffered an upset, four of the top-10 seeds moved on -- world No. 1 Yani Tseng, Na Yeon Choi, Stacy Lewis and Amy Yang. Sun Young Yoo, the 2010 winner of this event, also advanced.
But Jiyai Shin, the seventh seed, fell to Anna Nordqvist. The Swede birdied the 17th hole to record a 2 & 1 win, and will next play the 10th-seeded Yang, who had little trouble during a 5 & 4 rout of Natalie Gulbis.
Hurst birdied the second hole to gain an advantage on Kerr, but Kerr squared the match with a birdie two holes later. Hurst then stumbled to a double-bogey at the eighth to fall behind, and Kerr held the one-hole edge well into the back nine.
However, at No. 15, Hurst rolled in a birdie, and the two both parred the final three holes to send the match to extras.
"It was a long day just because neither one of us ran away with it so we were both so intense," said Hurst. "I think we both left a lot of shots out here so we were both grinding it out pretty much until the end."
Earlier on Friday, Tseng had her hands full with 33rd-seeded Katie Futcher, as the two traded blows on the front nine. In a five-hole span from the third, Tseng won two holes and Futcher took three to hold a lead around the turn.
But Tseng played superb golf on the back nine to pull out the victory. The top overall seed made birdies to win 11, 13 and 14, which gave her a 2-up lead. The Taiwanese star secured a 3 & 1 victory at the 17th, which she parred and the American Futcher bogeyed.
"I didn't play as good as yesterday but I putted much better," Tseng said. "I started to make more birdies on the back nine and started to play better. I haven't played in three weeks so I needed some time to get it back."
Tseng will next face Candie Kung, who earned a 1-up defeat of Haeji Kang.
Choi, the second seed, posted a 3 & 2 victory against Jenny Shin, who lost holes one, six and 14 because of bogeys. Shin won 15 with a birdie, but that was a lone bright spot during a round when she made too many mistakes to win. Shin bogeyed the next hole, which Choi birdied to close out the match.
Choi, who finished third last year, will take on Morgan Pressel in round three. The 15th-seeded American was a 3 & 2 victor against Inbee Park.
Lewis advanced after building a large lead against Sandra Gal. She won the first four holes, which gave her plenty of cushion to withstand a comeback by the German. Lewis then won 13 and 14 to go up by four holes, and halved the next hole to end the match.
Lewis has a tough third-round opponent in Yoo, who defeated young American Jessica Korda 2-up. The 11th-seeded Yoo carried a 1-up edge into the 18th, which she birdied to keep the match from going to extra holes.
"I think I've got a lot of tough matches still ahead of me, and there were a lot of upsets yesterday, so it just shows what match play is," Lewis said. "Anything could happen on any given day."
If projecting the bracket based on seed alone is a fruitless endeavor, Jodi Ewart has provided plenty of evidence so far. The 62nd seed took down defending champion and No. 3 seed Suzann Pettersen on Thursday, and came back Friday with a 3 & 1 win against 30th-seeded Swede Sophie Gustafson. Ewart won four consecutive holes from the seventh to built an insurmountable lead.
"I'm striking the ball really well, and today a lot more putts dropped than they did yesterday," Ewart said. "So I just have a lot of confidence in my game right now."
Ewart moved on to the third round to face Azahara Munoz, the 19th seed, who got past No. 14 seed Karrie Webb by a 2 & 1 margin.
Those victories figure to make Saturday an intriguing day in the Annika Sorenstam bracket. The winner of the Ewart-Munoz match will face either Lewis or Yoo in the quarterfinals, which also take place Saturday.
In the Patty Berg bracket, Karine Icher and Julieta Granada both won Friday to move into the third round. Whoever wins that match will face either Tseng or Kung.
Angela Stanford is the highest remaining seed in the Kathy Whitworth bracket, at No. 12. She earned a 4 & 3 win against Eun-Hee Ji on Friday, and plays Hurst on Saturday. So Yeon Ryu, the 13th seed, and Katherine Hull will contest the other third-round match in that bracket.
Choi-Pressel and Nordqvist-Yang are the third-round matches in the Mickey Wright bracket.
NOTES: The Hurst-Kerr match is the only one to go to extra holes so far in this year's tournament...The semifinals and final are scheduled for Sunday.
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