Ballater, Scotland, came to a halt yesterday in the first round of match play when he was defeated three and two by 1990 champion Dave Parsons of Guernsey, Channel Islands.

Standing three up at the seventh hole Talbot ran into a bad patch where he continually over-shot the greens, forcing him to scramble to save strokes. His luck ran out at 16 as Parsons went three up to take the match.

"I didn't play very well today,'' said Talbot, who entered the match play round as the top seed. "I was three up after six and then my game just left me''.

After winning three of the first six holes the two-time winner fell into a rut from which he found it impossible to energe. A triple-bogey on the par-five seventh hole began the demise and, although he drew even with Parsons at number nine, Talbot's inability to hit the greens proved his undoing.

Said Talbot: "What really hurt me was hitting second shots over the greens. I wasn't able to judge the distances properly.

"I played the best I could. I had been playing very good...I shot 74 and 77 in qualifying. I just didn't play well today and made too many mistakes.'' On the best day weather wise, with ample sun and heat making for drier, faster greens, Talbot sent second shots over the greens at the 11th, 14th and 15th holes. Each time allowing Parsons, who was having problems of his own, to recover and maintain his hold on the match.

Talbot, however, can take some solace from emerging as medallist from the stroke play qualifying round as well as taking the Thompson Long Drive Trophy.

While stressing that he had no excuses for losing he did express some reservations about the manner in which the organisers formulated the pairings.

Instead of meeting the last qualifier Talbot instead faced Parsons, who qualified fifth.

"I wasn't really happy with the draw. I was the top seed and really shouldn't have played Parsons. I guess they seeded the first four players and picked the rest out of a hat.'' Following his defeat of Talbot, Parsons went on to down Ireland's Michael O'Grady in the quarter-finals and next faces Brian Crombie of Scotland, who lost to Talbot in the semifinals last year.

France's 20-year-old sensation Olivier Lecocq kept up his charge for honours by defeating Americans Don Fightmaster and Joe Hengel to gain one of the other semifinal berths. He goes up against veteran Chris Court (England) who has never made it to the finals despite appearing in the semis on numerous occasions.

Talbot said that he will stay on for the conclusion of the tournament before returning to Bermuda on June 19. He predicted a meeting between Lecocq and Parsons in the final.

Complete list of results can be found on the sports scoreboard page.

QUINN TALBOT -- Missed out in Scotland.