MARANA, ARIZONA // While the golfing world switched its attention to Tiger Woods's first public appearance since November, Ian Poulter opted to let his clubs do the talking at the Accenture Match Play Championship on Friday.
"It's easier if I didn't see it this morning, I wouldn't have to talk about it," the Briton said of Woods's televised apology after trouncing India's Jeev Milka Singh 5&4 in a third round match at Dove Mountain.
Poulter was part of a three-pronged British invasion into the quarter-finals at the US$8.5 million (Dh32m) World Golf Championships event, joined in the last eight by his compatriots Paul Casey and Oliver Wilson.
Spain's Sergio Garcia, Stewart Cink of the United States, South Africa's Retief Goosen, Camilo Villegas of Colombia and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee also advanced to complete an international quarter-final line up.
"I got off to a great start and I pretty much kept my foot down the whole way around," said Poulter, who did not record a bogey. "Jeev hit a couple of shots a little astray, got himself in a bit of trouble and it kind of made it easier for me just to put the ball in position on the green."
Goosen, by contrast, barely survived for the second successive day. After edging his compatriot Ernie Els in extra holes on Thursday, he beat Nick Watney one-up when the American missed a six-foot par putt at the final hole.
"It was a bit of a scruffy game but I got through it," said Goosen, who set up a match against Villegas, a teammate from last year's Presidents Cup, in the quarters.
A day after knocking out Geoff Ogilvy, the defending champion, Villegas was one down against Ben Crane at the turn, but stormed home to triumph 3&2.
"You've got to keep it going, be patient, and I came back strong at the end," Villegas said.
Cink, the lone American survivor in Arizona, sank an 18-foot putt at the final hole to remain all-square with South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, before winning with a six-foot birdie at the next.
"If I didn't make that putt [on 18] I was going home," the British Open champion said. "It was just the kind of stuff you almost dream of. My mentality was that I didn't feel like I was ever going to lose, even with the last hole needing a par to keep going."
Casey, the sixth and highest remaining seed, won at a canter, 5&4 over the American Brian Gay.
Wilson went two extra holes before eliminating Luke Donald in an all-British affair. "It wasn't sparkling golf," said Wilson. "I'm just delighted to come through that.
Thongchai emerged from an all-Asian battle with a 5&4 victory over Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, while Garcia edged the South African Tim Clark 2&1.
"What pleased me the most is that I finally played better today," Garcia said.
"I probably didn't putt it as well as yesterday but I made a couple of big putts in the last four or five holes."
* Reuters
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Lupita%20Nyong'o%2C%20Joseph%20Quinn%2C%20Djimon%20Hounsou%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMichael%20Sarnoski%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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