Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell win Round 1: Volvo World Match Play Championship
First round of the star studded Volvo World Match Play Championship turned out to be a blend of stunning display of skill par excellence as most of the top ranking players outplayed their opponents in the knock-out format of the sport.
Italian Francesco Molinari and Englishman Ian Poulter were pitched in the toughest battle of all as both the players finished with four holes each and the match was halved. Molinari opened his round with superb knocks and clinched the opening three holes,
leaving Poulter behind.
The Italian pulled in birdies on opening two holes while Poulter fell in for a bogey at the par-five 3rd, thereby giving Molinari a lead of three holes. Poulter came back on the par-four, 4th and pulled in an eagle and another birdie
at the par-four, 7th. Molinari continued to even par the holes till he finally grabbed his last hole on the par-five, 11th while Poulter continued to consolidate his position by conceding 12th and the 18th hole.
Another exciting performance came out from the Rory McIlroy and Retief Goosen round, where the young McIlroy thrashed the seasoned Goosen to go 1-up. Goosen pulled in six stunning birdies only to see them all go in vain. McIlroy, coming out fresh from a
disastrous Masters melt down, did well to maintain his composure against the sturdy South African.
"It was a tough match, no quarter was given," said the 22-year-old. "That chip-in was nice. I always seem to do it the hard way in Match Play. But it feels good when you come through a battle like that."
Luke Donald, the current world number two, defeated American Ryan Moore 4 & 3 to go 1-up in the first round. Moore might still have a chance to stay in the competition if he is able to halve the next round and win the playoff hole which may not be that easy
with Ross Fisher being the third competitor in the three-player pool. Match Play format works just fine with Donald, who has his eyes set on the number one spot as he targets Lee Westwood on the final day.
"I would love to play Lee," said Donald, "There's more satisfaction when you can take down the number one player in the world."
And that comes from a player who has experience to support the claim. Donald won the WGC Accenture Match Play title in February where he defeated the then world number one Martin Kaymer to clinch the title.
Among other notable rounds of the evening were Westwood wining over Dane Anders Hansen with a 6 & 5, Graeme McDowell overtaking South African Louis Oosthuizen with 3 & 1, Kaymer defeated Korean Y.E.Yang with a 2 & 1, Miguel Angel Jimenez defeated the Masters
champion Charl Schwartzel with 6 & 5 and Alvaro Quiros overtook Paul Casey with 3 & 1, to conclude the opening eight rounds of the championship.
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