Sudden death heartbreak for Coltart
Andrew Coltart went out of the Accenture World Matchplay Championship in dramatic fashion in Melbourne.
Three up on former US Masters champion Craig Stadler with six holes to play in their third round clash, Coltart was taken to sudden death and after thinking he had hit the shot which might win the match he saw the American seconds later strike the shot which did.
The 30-year-old Scot's 156-yard seven-iron to the 19th was arrow-straight and came down a foot short of the hole, but ran eight feet past.
It still gave him a birdie chance, but suddenly he had to make it when Stadler's second came down in almost the identical spot - and stopped dead by the hole.
Coltart, having holed putts of 12 and five feet on the previous two greens to stay on terms, could not do it again and so failed to go through to meet top seed Ernie Els in the quarter-finals.
Els, the only one of the top 20 seeds to reach the last eight, did so only by the skin of his teeth, also going to the 19th before beating France's Jean Van de Velde in a match which developed quite an edge to it over theclosing stretch.
The only European left in is Swede Pierre Fulke, who after winning the Volvo Masters in November virtually clinched a Ryder Cup debut in September byholing a 25-foot putt to beat New Zealander Michael Campbell on the last.
Fulke now faces Brad Faxon, who put out fellow American and fourth seed Tom Lehman by one hole, while in the other two quarter-finals Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern plays American Steve Stricker and Japanese pair Shigeki Maruyama and Toru Taniguchi clash.
