The excitement and expectation is building among the 16 players contesting the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club, Surrey, England – and another four days of world class knock-out golf will be realised when the first round action gets underway over the West Course from 8.15am on Thursday morning.
The prestigious and historical tournament, which dates back to 1964, will begin in 2007 with the defending champion, England’s Paul Casey, taking on American Jerry Kelly in their scheduled 36 holes clash.
Therein follows a feast of top talent who will do battle. South Africa’s Retief Goosen goes up against Argentina’s Angel Cabrera in a tussle between the former and current US Open Champion, England’s Justin Rose takes on America’s Hunter Mahan, South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini meets Denmark’s Sǿren Hansen, while Open Champion Padraig Harrington has a testing encounter against Denmark’s Anders Hansen, winner of the BMW PGA Championship back in May at Wentworth.
Harrington is making his first competitive appearance on English soil since he claimed the Old Claret Jug at Carnoustie in July in Scotland - and he cannot wait to get going. "I'm really looking forward to this. There is a little bit of past demons to be exorcised - I've had a final here and a couple of semi-finals - but I've never won at Wentworth, and there's certainly a part of me that wants to. I much prefer the course now that Ernie has made the changes."
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson then continues the opening round with a match against American debutant Woody Austin, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth meets Argentina’s Andres Romero, while South Africa’s Ernie Els, a Wentworth Estate resident, resumes rivalries with Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie.
All have the potential to triumph – but the incentive to retain his title, which he claimed last September courtesy of a 10&8 victory in the final over American Shaun Micheel, after his previous successes over Goosen, Canada’s Mike Weir and Montgomerie, is a strong one for the 30 year old Casey.
“Of course, I’d like to replicate that win,” he said on Wednesday during his press conference. “I’ve never defended a title successfully, so that would be a nice goal to tick off. Winning this week would really turn my season around.
“I felt very lucky to be part of it last year and getting in on my Order of Merit qualification. I felt, ‘if I’m in it, I might as well see how far I can get.’ My confidence grew and I played some very, very good golf, as you’ve got to.
“My form is probably not too dissimilar this year to last, but I’ve been working extremely hard. The singles match I had against Raphaël Jacquelin in The Seve Trophy was good. I felt my golf is going in the right direction, and I played three good rounds at the dunhill championship and had my first top ten for a while. Hopefully it’s now clicked.
Not that Casey is taking his opponent for granted. “It will be a fierce match, as he’s an aggressive player. Hopefully that will result in a few fireworks. But I get on well with Jerry, he’s a great guy, so we’ll have a lot of fun out there too.”
Casey is not alone in his wish to succeed at Wentworth. Fellow countryman Justin Rose, who also faces an American opponent in Hunter Mahan, is making his second World Match Play appearance in 2002 after narrowly losing to Fiji’s Vijay Singh on the last hole when his birdie putt horse-shoed out.
Five years on, Rose, who won four times in 2002, feels he is more of a complete player. “I realised I was up against a world-class player like Vijay, and I was pleased with the way I hung in there, as I was four down at one point and could have lost 8&6. I was pleased with my effort, and now I don’t think that would be so much of a consolation,” he said.
“I’m playing at a high level now, obviously in the Majors and World Golf Championships, because I feel I’m playing more on the world stage. When I won in 2002, it was in South Africa and England, places that I felt comfortable. But since then, I’ve got lots more experience.”
And Rose, who hails from north Hampshire and has a home just down the road from Wentworth in Fleet, is keen to go one better than he did in May when he lost the BMW PGA Championship to Hansen in a play-off.
“I think winning at Wentworth would certainly be special – a highlight of the year or even a career – especially living so close and having lots of family and friends around the area. Sunday night would be special if I was able to win, but I’ve got one of the hardest first round matches to get past first, and I certainly won’t be underestimating Hunter.”
Rose’s thoughts on a hard match were echoed by Colin Montgomerie, the World Match Play winner in 1999 and who again locks horns with his great rival Els, who twice pipped him to the US Open Championship in 1994 and 1997.
Montgomerie said: “It’s a draw that I don’t think either of us wanted in the first round, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a very tough match, of course it is, as I’ve drawn the number two seed, but it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to. I’m playing well, I enjoy match play more than I do stroke play, and I’m quietly confident. We shall see.”
Recalling their battles over the years, the Scot continued: “We came against each other in 1994 in the US Open at Oakmont, and then of course we played each other here in the final here, and he won both those. Then of course we played each other at Congressional and he beat me by a shot to win the US Open again, so it’s nice to have another go, 13 years after we first met.
“I managed to beat him in 1996 at Sun City. That was good, but probably the wrong country to beat Ernie in – his own! I just managed to get a flight out before I was arrested! But that, I’m afraid, has been my only success against him, so let’s hope I can do something here at Wentworth.”
Montgomerie has been working hard on his putting. “It’s been a problem recently. I’ve been very negative with it, very tentative. I’ve been putting poorly. I had 38 putts at Kingsbarns, which is ridiculous. I had 16 two-putts and two three-putts – that’s ten too many at this level.
“So I had to do something and I spent a good deal of time in the rain on Tuesday practicing on the green before it got completely water-logged! I found something, and in match play, I can be more positive. I will be against Ernie, because I’ve got to putt well to have a chance. If I do, I’ll have a very good chance of winning.”
Let the action begin.
