ESTEPONA, Spain: Ian Poulter beat Luke Donald in the World Match Play Championship final Sunday to deny his fellow Briton the world No. 1 ranking. In a scrappy encounter, Poulter sealed a 2&1 victory to become the first player to win both world match play titles on either side of the Atlantic. Both players had nudged a hole in front at various stages but a stunning 45-foot birdie putt by Poulter on the 12th brought him back level. Donald had gone ahead after Poulter left his ball in bushes on the long eighth and had to concede the hole, slipping awkwardly while trying to extricate himself from the undergrowth. Poulter then went one-up with an approach to three feet on the 14th. Poulter's killer shot, though, came at the 16th when he fired in to just 18 inches to go two-up before closing the match out with a par on 17. Hoey wins Madeira Open In Portugal, Michael Hoey bagged his second European Tour title Sunday after the Northern Irishman saw off England's Jamie Elson — joint top of the leaderboard with him overnight, by two strokes to land the Madeira Islands Open at Porto Santo Golfe. Birdies at the eighth and 14th holes formed the basis of Hoey's march to glory and he could thus afford a dropped shot on the par-three 13th, as a final round of 71 saw him finish on 10 under. Elson was runner-up with compatriot Chris Gane with Italy's Frederico Colombo leading a group of three players tied for fourth on six under after a fine round which included seven birdies before a double bogey on the par-four fourth forced him to be content with a final round 67. Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima finished level with Colombo following a four-under 68, with Scotland's Lloyd Saltman also finishing up on a total 282 for a final round 70. Englishman Simon Wakefield almost bagged a share of the headlines but missed out on becoming the first player to shoot a 59 on the European Tour. The 37-year-old produced a double-bogey seven at the par-five last where he would have had the record with an eagle as he carded a 63. Toms surrenders lead David Toms frittered away a commanding seven-stroke lead to trail South Korean Charlie Wi by one shot after Saturday's third round at the Colonial Invitational at Dallas. On a blustery day at Colonial Country Club, American Toms struggled with his putting on the way to an ugly four-over-par 74 in his bid to end a PGA Tour title drought of five years. Having opened with bogey-free 62s in his first two rounds here to spreadeagle the field, Toms dropped three shots in his first six holes before finishing at 12-under 198. John Senden (70) was alone in third at nine under, a stroke in front of fellow Australian Stuart Appleby (67) and Americans Paul Goydos (67) and Mark Wilson (71). Kerr, Stanford advance In Gladstone, New Jersey, Angela Stanford birdied four of the final five holes to beat Paula Creamer 2-up Saturday and set up an all-America semifinal with Cristie Kerr in the Sybase Match Play Championship. Top-seeded Na Yeon Choi of South Korea will face No. 3 Suzann Pettersen of Norway in the other semifinal Sunday morning at Hamilton Farm Golf Club. The champion of the $1.5m tournament will be decided Sunday afternoon. Kerr, the No. 3 seed who hasn't played more than 16 holes in any match, had a 3-and-2 win over Ai Miyazato of Japan in the opening quarterfinal on a rare sunny day in New Jersey this week.
