McDowell off to Good Start in Defense of Volvo World Match Play Championship


Defending champion Graeme McDowell won his first match in the Volvo World Match Play Championship. The European Tour-sponsored event began Wednesday at London Golf Club in England.

The 35-year-old Northern Irishman beat Frenchman Alexander Levy, who was coming off a victory in the rain-shortened Portugal Open last Sunday, 3 and 2.

Also earning two points was Thongchai Jaidee, who lost to McDowell in the 2013 championship match. The 44-year-old Thai player beat Italy's Francesco Molinari 2-up.

McDowell is hoping another good performance at the Match Play will propel him to better things in 2015. "Regardless of what happens this week, I am using the end of this year as a springboard for next year and I'm more strongly motivated than I've ever been. I really feel I'm in the prime of my career and ready to step up to the next level and give the next five to eight years 110 percent of my concentration."

The 16-man event involves an opening round robin, with the field divided into four groups. The winners out of those groups advance to the 36-hole semifinals, with the two finalists playing in a 36-hole championship match Sunday.

Other first-day matches included The Netherlands' Joost Luiten beating Finland's Mikko Ilonen 1-up; Sweden's Henrik Stenson halving his match with South African George Coetzee; England's Paul Casey defeating Welshman Jamie Donaldson 2 and 1; Sweden's Jonas Blixt edging American Patrick Reed 2 and 1; France's Victor Dubuisson getting past Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal 3 and 2; and Ireland's Shane Lowry beating Scotsman Stephen Gallacher 3 and 2.

"It was one of those days where both of us played pretty solid but at the end of the day I didn't really make anything," Reed lamented of his close loss to Blixt. "I missed a short one on six and it seemed like that was the story of the day, just missing putts left and right."

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014082/leaderboard/index.html.