HSBC World Match Play Championship

This is another of my favourite European Tour golf tournaments, maybe I just like it when things are a little different or something. For those new to the game match play this little snipet from wikipedia.org might help explain things better:

Unlike stroke play, in which the unit of scoring is the stroke, in match play the unit of scoring is the hole. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal. The golfer with the lowest score on a given hole receives one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is halved.

Match play scores of a game in progress are kept with a running tally. At the start of a match, the score is "all square" or tied. The score is then recorded in terms of one player's lead over another player. For example, if Player A has won 3 holes, Player B has won 1 hole and they have halved 2 (or any number of) holes, Player A is said to be leading, "2-up" (3 holes won minus 1 hole lost).

These are the results from the first round (source www.europeantour.com):

Match : 1 Paul Casey v Jerry Kelly Paul Casey won 3 & 2 Match : 2 Retief Goosen v Angel Cabrera Angel Cabrera won 6 & 5 Match : 3 Justin Rose v Hunter Mahan Hunter Mahan won 5 & 4 Match : 4 Rory Sabbatini v Søren Hansen Søren Hansen won 4 & 3 Match : 5 Padraig Harrington v Anders Hansen Anders Hansen won 4 & 2 Match : 6 Henrik Stenson v Woody Austin Henrik Stenson won by 1 Hole Match : 7 Niclas Fasth v Andres Romero Andres Romero won 3 & 2 Match : 8 Ernie Els v Colin Montgomerie Ernie Els won 6 & 5

For me the most interesting results were Ernie Els thrashing Colin Montgomerie and Angel Cabrera also thrashing Retief Goosen, who I rate as a very good player. I also liked the look of Andres Romero and after his British Open heroics could be one of the players to watch next year!

In the Quarter finals we have:
Paul Casey V Angel Cabrera
Hunter Mahan V Søren Hansen
Anders Hansen V Henrik Stenson
Andres Romero V Ernie Els

I think the match to watch out for will be Romero and Els both coming off impressive performances yesterday!