Wee Mac on GMac collision course

RORY MCILROY played the most impressive golf of the day and produced a barrage of birdies on the way to beating two-times US Open champion Retief Goosen in yesterday’s opening round of the €3.4 million Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin.

The 22 year-old finished it off in style by sinking a chip at the final hole to forge a win that puts him in with every chance of advancing to the knock-out stages over the weekend.

Indeed, the likelihood of a clash between McIlroy and fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell in tomorrow afternoon’s quarter-finals improved significantly when the Portrush man won the battle of the British Open champions against South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen by 2 and 1.