Padraig Harrington has made a terrific start in The Cisco World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth, beating veteran Nick Faldo 9 and eight.
The victory sets up an intriguing quarter-final tussle with fellow countryman Darren Clarke, the latter getting a bye into the next round .
Harrington could not has wished for a better start when some miscuing from Faldo spared the Dubliner from testing his putting until the third green.
A bogey on the third worsened Faldo’s plight and launched his partner into a three hole lead.
Even when he birdied the 501-yard fourth it was a let-down. He had struck a superb five wood to five feet on the par five, but missed the eagle chance and only halved the hole.
A couple of birdies on the sixth and ninth extended Harington’s lead and the situation looked extremely precarious for his partner.
There was some reprieve for Faldo on the back nine when he managed to pull Harrington’s advantage back to four holes only for the Dubliner to birdie the last and make his lunch that little bit more enjoyable.
Things did not improve for the Englishman in the afternoon as he continued to struggle with his game. Harrington, with the assistance of an eagle at the fifth and a birdie at the eighth, tightened his grip on the contest and a par at the short tenth was enough to close out the match.
"I made a good start today against Nick," said Harrington afterwards. "To be honest, he went for a couple of shots and compounded a few errors and I played steady from there on in."
In today’s other first round matches Sweden’s Thomas Bjorn has beaten young Australian Adam Scott 4 and 3, Ian Woosnam is four up against US Open champion Retief Goosen, while in the battle of the past masters, Seve Ballesteros is three down against European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance.