All four matches have begun in this years World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth and already we have the best start to the week possible with a host of birdies and an eagle already.
In the top match today between Bob May and Padraig Harrington, Harrington fins himself 1-down to the American despite firing three birdies over his first six holes.
May is currently 2-up after eight holes thank to birdies at the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th.
Harrington responded well to the pressure with birdies of his own at the 4th, 6th and 7th and this match has caught light already around a sunny but breezy West Course.
Nick Faldo is proving that he is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to matchplay as he is taking on…and beating convincingly…the current WGC World Matchplay Champion Darren Clarke.
Faldo started off at a snails pace which has obviously threw Clarke and took an age deciding on which club to hit both into the first and his tee shot at the par three second hole.
Both clubs were correct and more club than the big hitting Ulsterman was taking. But Faldo’s deliberations were proved to be the making as he snatched two birdies at the 4th and 8th to steal a 2-up lead after eight holes on the man who beat Tiger Woods in February for the World Matchplay crown in La Costa.
In the battle of the youngsters, both Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott are level after seven holes with both players in scrappy form so far. But the match has the makings of a classic. Both players bogied the first hole and it was Garcia who took the lead with a par on the third.
But the Spaniard dropped shots at the 5th and 6th to let Scott back in before he made a spectacular birdie on the 7th hole. Garcia fired his 8-iron to within a foot to steal back a hole and draw the match level.
Danish Ryder Cupper Thomas Bjorn and South African Retief Goosen are locked at all square after six holes in a tense match with some fabulous golf.
Bjorn took the initiative at the first hole with a birdie from three feet but gave a hole back to Goosen with a bogey at the long third hole. But the Dane pulled out his 4-iron for his second shot into the par five fourth and fired it to within eight feet for an eagle three to reclaim the lead.
Goosen birdied the par three fifth from 6-feet to draw level once more and Bjorn has just birdied the uphill seventh to again take the lead.
More from Wentworth a little later!
