FORMER Open champion Paul Lawrie admitted he was gutted to crash out of his own tournament with a "horrendous" performance against fellow Scot Chris Doak.
Lawrie lost by one hole in the second round of the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay at Murcar Links, with Doak advancing to the last 16 despite three bogeys and two double bogeys on his card..
"I hit it horrendous today and you can't get off with hitting the ball as poorly as that," Lawrie, 46, said.
"I'm disappointed, gutted, but when you play like that at this level you seldom get away with it
"I can't hit the ball any worse than that to be fair, but all the best to Chris. The two of us didn't play very well. We were all over the place at times and he made the four he needed to make at the last. That's match play."
Lawrie will continue his duties as tournament host this weekend, adding: "I'll be here every day. I'll be in the sponsor's pavilion looking after them because it's not just about me playing this week. My name is on the title, so it's very important that everyone comes and enjoys it and has a good day, and I'll be in there doing my bit."
A low-quality contest ended in somewhat farcical scenes on the 18th, with the players left around 150 yards apart after Doak sliced his drive almost into the tented village and Lawrie hooked his to the front edge of the second green.
Doak feared he was out of bounds and hit a provisional ball, admitting he was "very lucky" that his ball had actually ended up in a bunker on the adjacent course, which was deemed ground under repair, allowing him to take a free drop and scramble a par.
"It's fantastic to beat anybody, but Paul being such a good player and being the host makes it a little bit extra special I guess," Doak said.
"What he's done is fantastic for the tournament. You'd like to see him here for the weekend but I guess that's not to be. I've not really played my best and Paul certainly never played his best today. But I'm getting there and building confidence, which is the main thing."
Doak will take on England's David Howell in the third round, Howell having cruised to a 6&4 win over another Scot, David Drysdale.
"I had a putt to go seven under on the 12th to close the match out, so that was going to be pretty tough for anyone to match," Howell said.
"I didn't manage to hole that and of course I go and lose the next, but am delighted to get through and rest the legs for tomorrow.
"I've been lucky enough to play in the World Match Play a couple of times but I always thought a standard European Tour event for the bulk of the membership would go down really well, and so far so good.
"There was a real buzz about the place from Tuesday onwards and it's a really nice addition to our calendar."
Fellow Englishman Chris Wood had been the first man into the last 16 thanks to his second 5&4 win of the week, the 27-year-old from Bristol needing just two and a half hours to beat Spain's Jorge Campillo.
But top seed James Morrison bowed out after losing 2&1 to Sweden's Johan Carlsson, who faces compatriot Robert Karlsson next after the former European number one eased past Alejandro Canizares.
Local favourite Richie Ramsay was an approximate five under par in beating the man he succeeded as US Amateur champion, Italian Edoardo Molinari, while 2010 US Amateur champion Peter Uihlein eventually defeated 2013 winner Matt Fitzpatrick on the 19th.
"I knew it was going to be very tough today," said Ramsay, who holds the course record at Murcar with a round of 62 in 2006. "Edoardo is a class player and when he gets going with the putter, he's probably one of the best in the world."
The best tie of the third round could be between Marc Warren and former Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts, who defeated Fabrizio Zanotti and Trevor Fisher Jnr respectively on Friday.
