Zander Lombard was unable to keep South African interest in the Paul Lawrie Match Play alive after going down 4&2 to Tom Lewis, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
On Thursday, it was two Frenchmen against two South Africans with both Europeans going home, but after Haydn Porteous lost to Englishman Anthony Wall early on Friday, it was up to Lombard to even matters against Wall’s countryman, Lewis.
Lombard got off to the worst possible start as he found himself two down to early birdies and then three down when he doubled the fifth. He sparked a mini-comeback with wins at 7 and 9, sandwiching a loss at the 8th as he made the turn two down.
Lewis doubled that with successive wins – an eagle at 10 beating Lombard’s birdie and a birdie at the 11th beating the South African’s par. The Englishman probably had his sights on a very early finish, but the South African responded with two wins of his own in a row.
Unfortunately, that would be the end of Lombard’s fight as he bogeyed the par 3 14th, and shook hands on the 16th when Lewis made birdie – his fourth of the day to go with two eagles.
