GOLF ROUNDUP : New Zealand, Japan Gain in Dunhill Cup

Unseeded New Zealand kept the upsets rolling in the Dunhill Cup today and Japan ousted the French team that had earlier knocked the defending champion Americans out of the tournament.

The Japanese blanked France 3-0 as the French team of Marc Farry, Emmanuel Dussart and Jean Van de Velde never showed the kind of play that helped them eliminate the top-seeded United States in Thursday’s first round.

Simon Owen and Greg Turner won bogey battles at the notorious 17th of the Old Course, the Road Hole, helping lead New Zealand to a 2-1 victory over seventh-seeded Wales.

Third-seeded Ireland reached the semifinals for the third year in a row with a 2-1 victory over sixth-seeded Spain.

British bookmakers made Ireland the favorite to win the cup Sunday.

Japan’s Satoshi Higashi, Yoshinori Kaneko and Hajime Meshiai, last year’s runners-up and seeded eighth, play fifth-seeded England in Saturday’s semifinals.

Even without top-ranked Nick Faldo, sitting out the tournament with an injury, the English beat fourth-seeded Scotland 2-1, as Mark James edged Sam Torrance by one stroke in the day’s final match.

New Zealand, which eliminated second-seeded Australia in the first round, next plays Ireland, the highest-seeded squad left in the $1 million medal-match play tournament.

But the Japanese trio, which calls itself “Team Jumbo” after fellow golfer and mentor Jumbo Ozaki, never was in trouble against France on a warm, breezy day.

Higashi beat Farry 71-80, the Frenchman taking a triple-bogey 7 on the second hole and falling from there. Kaneko beat Dussart 71-75, taking the lead for good with a birdie-3 on the third. And Meshiai completed the sweep with a 70-72 victory over Van de Velde, wrapping it up with two birdies on the back nine.

At Cely, France, Cathy Gerring shot a second straight 69 today and held the lead after two rounds of the LPGA World Championship, while Japan’s Ayako Okamoto surged into contention with a 6-under-par 66.

Gerring, one of 13 U.S. golfers in the 16-woman field, was at 138, 6-under-par and one stroke ahead of Okamoto.

Two other Americans, Betsy King and Danielle Ammaccapane, were tied for third at 141.