Golf Roundup : All 4 Seeded Players Lose in Match Play Tournament

All four seeded players were eliminated Saturday in the quarterfinals of the World Match Play Championship at the storm-ravaged course in Wentworth, England.

Defending champion Greg Norman of Australia, U.S. Masters champion Larry Mize, U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson and British Open champion Nick Faldo of Britain all lost as European tour players charged into the semifinals.

Norman lost by one hole to South African Mark McNulty; Mize was a 7-and-6 victim of Britain’s Sandy Lyle; Simpson bowed, 5 and 4, to Spaniard Severiano Ballesteros, and Faldo was edged by Welshman Ian Woosnam, 1 up.

The first to go was Mize, who struggled around the wet and long Wentworth course. Lyle took the lead at the third hole and never relinquished it.

Simpson was the next to fall as four-time match play champion Ballesteros did not allow the Californian to lead at any stage.

Against Norman, McNulty led by one hole at the halfway mark. He maintained that edge throughout the afternoon round despite a late charge by the Australian, who made two birdies on his three holes.

Faldo lost when Woosnam, his Ryder Cup teammate, birdied the final hole.

In today’s semifinals, Woosnam will face Ballesteros, while Lyle will meet McNulty.

Steve Pate had two eagles on the front side--on the way to a seven-under-par 65 that lifted him into a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the $600,000 Walt Disney World tournament at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

“That’s the fastest start I ever got off to,” Pate said after playing the first seven holes of the Palm course in six under par--including a bogey. His 54-hole total of 199 was 17 under par.

Mark O’Meara, the leader through the first two rounds, shot a 69 on the Palm course and was at 200.

Pate pitched in from 60 feet for an eagle on the first hole and hit a 4-wood second shot within two feet of the flag for another eagle-3 on the seventh hole.

He also dropped 15-foot birdie putts on the fourth and sixth holes and made a longer one, from about 25 feet, on the third.

Morris Hatalsky, Andy Magee and South African David Frost shared third place at 202.

Al Geiberger, a PGA Seniors Tour rookie, shot a three-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead with a 138 total in the second round of the Seniors International tournament on the Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Charles Coody, another first-year player, shot a 69 for a 139 total.

Jim Ferree, Billy Casper, Walter Zembriski, Butch Baird and first-round leader Bruce Crampton were next at 141.