Golf: Graeme McDowell beat Rory McIlroy to reach the quarter-finals of the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain today. It was a clash, of course, between not just Ireland's two leading players — McDowell is ranked fifth in the world, McIlroy sixth — but also Ryder Cup partners and close friends.
Despite their friendship, McIlroy was unable to hide his annoyance as he went down 3&2. Flinging his putter after a missed putt cost him the long 11th, McIlroy kicked his ball away when he did the same on the next and remained four down. He got two back with birdies, but McDowell finished him off after holing from the fringe at the 16th — again from further away than his opponent.
Reigning US Open champion McDowell had spoken of how he had become accustomed to getting “beaten up” whenever they practised together, but this was their first tournament head-to-head and it proved to be a very different story.
McIlroy’s problems began immediately when he three-putted to fall behind and it was also clear there that he had no intention of being generous. After being asked to hole from around three feet there, McDowell was made to putt from an even shorter distance at the next for a half.
McIlroy hit his second into the lake on the long third to go two down and the gap went to three when he three-putted the par-five eighth. He did manage an 18-footer from just off the ninth green, but it was only for a half with McDowell holing from five feet, and even though he was the closer of the two at the 11th McIlroy was the one to miss.
Ian Poulter sent top seed Lee Westwood tumbling out and opened the door for Luke Donald or Martin Kaymer to become world number one. Ahead for most of their clash, Poulter lost the 14th and 15th to be pulled back to all square, but then hit his tee shot to three feet on the short 17th.
Westwood, winner of his last two tournaments in Indonesia and Korea, was bunkered in two at the par-five last and although he splashed out to three feet and holed for birdie, Poulter had chipped closer and made it for a one-up win.
Donald was two down with three to play against Swede Johan Edfors, but won the next two, halved the last in birdies and then showed again on the first extra hole that he is the best bunker player in the world.
While Edfors could not get up and down, Donald splashed out to two feet and so made certain of an eighth successive top 10 finish. He needs to win the title tomorrow, though, to replace Westwood — and, of course, to make it a World Match Play double after his triumph in Arizona in February.
Next up for him is Masters winner Charl Schwartzel, who matched the closing eagle of defending champion Ross Fisher to win one up.
Kaymer, beaten by Donald in the final in Tucson, also has to lift the trophy tomorrow to return to number one, but he stayed on course for that with a 3&2 victory over Dane Soren Kjeldsen.
He then faced Spain’s Alvaro Quiros, while McDowell took on Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Poulter faced another Ryder Cup team-mate in Italian Francesco Molinari.
