Beaten Clarke: 'I got what I deserved'

Graeme McDowell won his all-Irish duel with Darren Clarke and Ian Poulter produced the most sparkling golf when the Accenture World Match Play Championship finally began in California.

After a 24-hour rain delay and with the 467-yard ninth turned into a 162-yard par three because the fairway was still so saturated, McDowell came from two down with five to play to knock out 2000 winner Clarke with a last-green birdie.

Poulter was then seven under par in gaining the prize scalp of former US Open champion Jim Furyk three and one.

Lee Westwood, David Howell, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez were all winners as well – but so were “Big Three” Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson.

Clarke, ranked 12th, was the second biggest casualty of the opening day, fifth seed Mike Weir also losing on the 18th to American Kirk Triplett.

Furyk was four under par when he lost and Poulter commented: “He would have beaten 70% of the field, but I played fantastic.”

He next plays 10th seed Stuart Appleby, while Westwood, a four and three winner over left-hander Steve Flesch, has to take on last year’s runner-up Davis Love and McDowell meets Appleby’s fellow Australian Robert Allenby, who put out Open champion Todd Hamilton by a crushing six and five margin.

Howell, like McDowell making his debut, matched that against Japan’s Shigeki Marjuyama and was approximately six under for the 13 holes played.

That green was the turning point in McDowell’s clash. Clarke missed a six-foot chance to go three up, then lost the next to a birdie and three-putted the short 16th.

Still the Ryder Cup star was favourite to go through when he played the better lay-up on the par-five last. But from thick rough McDowell pitched to four feet, Clarke’s finished 30 feet away and after he parred McDowell made no mistake.

“I’m pretty pumped up about that,” commented a delighted McDowell. The last green is always a good time to go one-up!” It was the first time he led.

“There’s no question that the 13th was the turning point. I said to my caddie that if it went in it was really going to hurt. When it didn’t it was a real boost. My lay-up at the last was my worst swing of the day, but I played a beauty from the rough.”

Clarke commented: “I played poorly and got what I deserved.”

Poulter, a quarter-finalist last year, wore two wrist bands, one bearing the word “Believe” and the other saying “Impossible Is Nothing.” They are staying on as long as he keeps winning.

“When you play a US Open champion like Jim you know you can’t miss a fairway,” he stated. “That was the key thing and I tore the flag out pretty much all day long.”

With momentum so important in match play there was a real swing hole. Poulter, one-up at the turn, was bunkered on the next, but holed it for birdie and Furyk missed from 15 feet.

“Every time he thought there was a little bit of an opportunity I pretty much slammed the door shut. I think anybody in the field would take that score right now.”

The only downside is that seven under par today counts for nothing tomorrow. He starts from scratch.

Howell eagled the 11th by pitching in from over 30 yards and finished off Maruyama with a 14-foot birdie putt two holes later.

“I threw all theory out of the window and just decided to hit the ball as hard as I could,” said the Swindon golfer. “I got on a good run and everything I tried seem to work.”

Australian Adam Scott, winner of the rain-reduced Nissan Open in Los Angeles on Monday, is his next opponent.

Westwood was never behind from the time Flesch bogeyed the second and the American played the first 12 holes in four over par to stand five down.

“I played solid and made only one bogey,” commented Westwood, who reckoned that the saturated course would have been declared unplayable if the event had been stroke play rather than head-to-head knock-out.

The rough was so dense that Westwood described either side of the fairway as “like a salad bar”, while Donald said after his four and three win over Zach Johnson that the mushy greens were “like pizzas”.

Woods, winner the last two years, overcame Nick Price four and three. World number one Singh had the same margin of success over Shingo Katayama, in the field only because Ernie Els chose not to play, and Mickelson, winner of his last two US Tour starts, got the better of compatriot Loren Roberts three and one.

Harrington missed a four-foot putt on the 17th to be pulled back to level by 1999 champion Jeff Maggert, but pitched to two feet on the last and holed that after Maggert’s 25-footer had stopped right on the lip.

Paul Casey missed the chance to take on Mickelson when he lost to Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.