Harrington edges Westwood despite lack of focus

Padraig Harrington sank a monster 40-foot eagle at the first extra hole to win his opening-round clash with Lee Westwood at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Harrington was two down with seven holes to play, but he clawed back to tie his European Ryder Cup team-mate at the end of regulation.

He then sent Westwood packing in unlikely fashion when they played the par-five first hole for the second time.

With Westwood stone dead for birdie, Harrington was just trying to send his putt close, and was as surprised as anybody when it rattled into the back of the cup on a pleasant winter’s day at Dove Mountain.

“I was putting up and over a hill but I did know the line from the first time around,” said the Irishman.

“When I hit the putt, I knew it was on a good line. It probably would have gone four feet by, so I was happy to see it hit the back of the hole and drop.”

Barely an hour earlier, Harrington was in trouble, facing a 12-foot putt at the 12th hole to avoid falling three-down.

He holed it and carried the momentum forward as he won the 13th and 17th holes to square it up, and even had a chance to win in regulation, only to miss an eight-footer at the par-four 18th.

“When I missed that, I didn’t feel good going into the play-off,” he said. “I struggled big time with my concentration today. I had to work very hard towards the end to get my focus right.”

Other European winners included Ian Poulter, Bradley Dredge, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Poulter was particularly impressive, not dropping a shot in a five-and-four drubbing of American Bart Bryant. “I got off to a good start,” said Poulter, who birdied the first two holes to go two-up and set the tone for the day.

Montgomerie had to work hard to edge Swede Johan Edfors two and one.

Dredge pulled off perhaps the upset of the day, four and two over South African Ernie Els, while Donald did it easily, three and one over fellow European Miguel Angel Jimenez.

In another all-European showdown, Sergio Garcia outlasted Darren Clarke, finishing one-up at the first extra hole.

Top seed Tiger Woods survived, beating fellow American JJ Henry three and two.

It was not a good day for Thomas Bjorn. The Dane travelled about 5,000 miles to play 13 holes, as he was steamrollered by South African Trevor Immelman six and five in the first match of the day.

Immelman didn't play brilliantly, but his opponent struggled. Bjorn sank a 25-foot birdie at the par-five first, but that was the only hole he won all day.

He ran up four bogeys before the turn and it was only a matter of time before Immelman won.

“I never gave myself any chance to take control of anything,” Bjorn said. “Trevor played nicely without doing anything special. It was probably the easiest game he will ever win.

“Today just wasn’t very good. It’s tough in match play (because) you lose a couple of holes and get on the back foot. You are battling not only yourself but the guy you are playing against. It’s disappointing to come all this way for that.

“It was just not good enough. I am now going back home to London. I flew out from there and it’s been a short week.”

The winner was obviously much happier: “I was hoping to get off to a good start,” said Immelman, who three-putted the first hole before settling down.

“After that I managed to play some solid golf and not make too many drastic mistakes.”