Sorenstam advances in match play

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Third-seeded Annika Sorenstam outlasted 62d-seeded Katherine Hull in 20 holes yesterday in the first round of the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, in hazy and humid conditions at Wykagyl Country Club.

Top-seeded Lorena Ochoa easily advanced, while No. 2 Karrie Webb, major winners Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel, and 2006 winner Brittany Lincicome were eliminated.

Ochoa, the 2006 Sybase Classic winner at Wykagyl, routed South African teenager Ashleigh Simon, 6 and 5, matching the largest margin of victory in the three-year history of the event.

Charlotte Mayorkas, at No. 63 the lowest seed to advance in tournament history, beat Webb with a birdie on No. 18. Down by three holes after five, Mayorkas tied Webb with a birdie on No. 12.

Fourth-seeded Kerr, the U.S. Women's Open champion, dropped a 5-and-4 decision to 61st-seeded Amy Hung, while 59th-seeded Birdie Kim got the best of the sixth-seeded Pressel.

Lincicome, seeded 13th, lost, 4 and 3, to longtime European Solheim Cup standout Carin Koch, while LPGA Championship winner Suzann Pettersen, the No. 7 seed, advanced with a 19-hole victory over In-Bee Park.

MILWAUKEE - Jeff Maggert, who missed the cut in his four previous tournaments, used a putter he has had for "probably 15 or 20 years" and a new set of irons at Brown Deer Park, shooting a 7-under-par 63 to tie rookie Brendon de Jonge for the lead in the first round of the U.S. Bank Championship.

De Jonge, from Zimbabwe, played for Virginia Tech.