World No. 1 Lee Westwood and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez had the pedal well down on the metal with big wins on day one of the 2011 Volvo World Match-Play Championship in Spain.
World No. 1 Lee Westwood hands Anders Hansen 6 & 5 defeat. (Picture - Thanks to Volvo)
Westwood handed Denmark’ Anders Hansen a 6 & 5 crushing on the Finca Cortesin course.
Jimenez was handed a glass of Rioja red after defeating Masters champion, Charl Schwartzel by the same margin.
In fact, both South African reigning Major winners were beaten as current Open Champion, Louis Oothuizen was on the receiving end of a 3 & 1 defeat by U.S. Open winner, Graeme McDowell.
In other matches, Spain’s big-hitting Alvaro Quiros silenced England’s Paul Casey 3 & 1 while Germany’s Martin Kaymer won 2 & 1 against former U.S. PGA Champion, Y E Yang.
Rory McIlroy chipped-in from off the green at the last to defeat double U.S. Open winner
Retief Goosen 1 up.
And in the other match, Luke Donald continued the European Ryder Cup winning trend to
become the sixth member of Colin Montgomerie’s Celtic Manor winning team to taste
success on day one in Spain.
Westwood and Hansen, a former BMW PGA winner, were all square through four holes
before Westwood planted the pedal winning six of the next seven holes.
“I’m pleased to win my first match but then I didn’t think it was going to be an easy
game against Anders because he’s been playing well,” said Westwood.
“Historically, he plays well at this time of year. He’s won the PGA Championship, which is
next week, so you tend to find that players play well during certain spells in the year, so I
had to be on my guard today.”
Westwood has this morning off ahead of tackling Australia’s Aaron Baddeley in the
afternoon, but pleased to have only played only 13 holes on day one as he targets a third
Tour success in a row.
“Winning 6 & 5 is a big advantage as the less holes you play the bigger dividends
down the road and down the tournament,” said the Englishman.
Jimenez, and easily the oldest player in the field, was 4 up after eight holes against
Schwartzel before winning the match with a birdie at 13.
And with Jimenez, puffing on a cigar and sipping a glass of red, he said: “This is the first time I’ve played the course and I didn’t know how to play it.
“But I had this picture in my head so it feels nice to win.
“So cheers (holding up his glass of Rioja). What better way to say it than with Rioja.”
McIlroy was 1 up over Goosen when he found a greenside bunker at the last.
But the current World No. 6 played a poor uphill shot that failed to reach the green with
Goosen safely on in three and facing a 15-foot birdie putt.
However McIlroy then pulled the carpet right out from under the Springbok by chipping-in to win the encounter.
Rory McIlroy on route to a 1up victory ove Retief Goosen. (Picture. Thanks to Volvo)
“I also knew it was going to be a tough match against Retief because he’s such
a solid player, and he’s never going to go away,” he said.
“Beating an opponent like that in the first round is great for your confidence for the next
couple of days.
“So it’s a big scalp for me to have beaten someone of his experience even though I might be ahead of him on the world rankings.”
