GRAEME McDOWELL brought back memories of his Ryder Cup heroics with a comeback victory over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson at the World Matchplay Championships in Spain on an opening day that saw Brandt Snedeker secure a victory over Thomas Bjorn in an unusual fashion.
McDowell trailed entering the closing stretch, birdied the 16th, got up and down from a bunker at the short 17th and then almost eagled the 568-yard last. That left Karlsson, in sand for two, needing to hole from eight feet for a half, but he missed it.
“One down with three to play against a great player, I feel very fortunate,” said the Northern Irishman, who now meets South African Jbe Kruger.
Snedeker began his opening group game with just 10 clubs in his bag and yet won the first three holes before more arrived.
Snedeker was forced to seek replacements when his usual set went missing en route from Florida on Monday. They eventually showed up at Malaga Airport yesterday morning, then were driven to Finca Cortesin an hour away and taken to him on the fourth tee.
Under the rules he was allowed only to add four to those he had started with, but was so happy with the driver he had borrowed from Australian John Senden and the putter he had chosen in the pro shop he continued with them.
“The driver worked really well, so I think it’s mine now and no longer his,” said the three-time PGA Tour winner, who hopes to use this week to impress American Ryder Cup captain Davis Love.
“It was kind of a weird day, to say the least. I didn’t like my chances at all, actually. I knew Thomas was a world-class player and it was pretty windy, so I knew it favoured him.”
By the sixth hole, Snedeker was already five-up and after losing the long eighth to a birdie he replied in kind on the next to turn in a four under par 33.
Bjorn, though, has been suffering from a virus that forced him out of the last two events in America, and he could never recover from bogeying the opening three holes, losing 5 and 4.
It was not the biggest defeat of the day, however. Robert Rock crashed 7 and 6 to fellow Englishman Justin Rose, who birdied the first five holes, winning four of them, and later added two more.
The week is not yet over for Bjorn, Rock, Karlsson and the other four who lost on the opening day – Sweden’s Peter Hanson, Senden, Alvaro Quiros and top seed Martin Kaymer – under the revised format of the famous event.
They could yet make it through to the last 16 if they win their second games. Ian Poulter won the title last year after failing to win either of his group matches – he halved them both.
Second seed Rose said: “The game was good, I adjusted to the speed of the greens quickly and Robert didn’t.”
To guarantee himself a place in the knock-out stages Rose now needs only a half against British Open champion Darren Clarke, the lowest-ranked player in the group after his slide to 70th in the world.
The same applies to Poulter against Tom Lewis, the 21-year-old who led the British Open as an amateur last July and then won the Portugal Masters on only his third professional start.
Scot Paul Lawrie started his 500th European Tour event with a 2 and 1 victory over the higher-ranked Hanson, winning the 16th with a par to go one-up and then making birdie from five feet on the next after his six-iron tee shot kicked off the bank right of the green.
Lawrie and Hanson now have to play Colombian Camilo Villegas, while Kaymer lost 3 and 2 to Dubai Desert Classic winner Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Spain’s other winner was Sergio Garcia, who came from behind to beat compatriot Quiros 2 and 1.
There was also one halved game, last year’s US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel making birdie on the last to square things against last year’s surprise semi-finalist Nicolas Colsaerts.
Clarke faces Rock this morning before taking on Rose in the afternoon session.
