Westwood produced a blitz of birdies to thrash Anders Hansen

Westwood produced a blitz of birdies to thrash Anders Hansen

Westwood started with a bogey on the par-4 first but found his range with the putter to make six birdies between the fourth and 11th holes, overwhelming his Danish opponent.Rory McIlroy won his Day 1 match, 1 up, over Retief Goosen. (Getty Images)“If you get on a winning run where you’re in contention a lot and finishing it off, that works wonders for your confidence and you start getting in that habit. But I’ve seen enough ups and downs in golf to know that you don’t take good play for granted. You have to work constantly at it.”Westwood plays Australia’s Aaron Baddeley on Friday in his second group match.Donald, who beat Kaymer to win the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona in February, again showed his pedigree in the one-on-one format by cruising past Ryan Moore, 4 and 3, in Group B.Birdies at the third, fourth and seventh holes put the TaylorMade Burner 2.0 irons Can Creat A Special Swing second-ranked Donald 3 up, and two more at No. 14 and No. 15 saw off the challenge of the only American player in the 24-man field.“I haven’t had too many disappointments in match play. I enjoy the format and I’ve been very successful in it,” said Donald, who has finished in the top 10 in 13 of his last 14 events. “I continued the form I’ve been playing the last few months. I’d put it in the solid category.”Donald needs to win the tournament and hope Westwood doesn’t make the final if he is to climb to No. 1 for the first time. Kaymer, meanwhile, requires Westwood to be eliminated before the semifinals to return to the top of the rankings.The third-ranked German was 2 down to Y.E. Yang by the 11th but won the next four holes to complete a 2-and-1 win on the 17th.Only two players lost to lower-ranked opponents on a day of few genuine shocks at the hilly, par-72 course.Ninth-ranked Paul Casey lost, 3 and 1, to Spain’s Alvaro Quiros, the world No. 26, in a battle of the big hitters and Masters champion Charl Schwartzel was thrashed, 6 and 5, by Miguel Angel Jimenez.Schwartzel is trying to emulate his fellow South Africans Gary Player and Ernie Els, who won the tournament 12 times between them. But he bogeyed the opening two holes and failed to match the consistency of Jimenez, who was born in nearby Malaga but is playing this course for the first time.Jimenez didn’t drop a shot for the entire round.