Casares: Britain's Paul Casey, playing his first tournament in three months, blamed lack of fitness for his defeat by Australian Scott Strange in the World Matchplay Championship on Thursday.
The world number four, who has had a rib injury, lost to a player ranked 164 places below him in his first competitive round since the British Open in July.
"Physically I'm not great," Casey told reporters. "I can't swing the way I want and I was coming out of a lot of shots."
"Scott played well but having said that I gifted him three holes on the front nine and you can't do that with this kind of field this week."
Despite his rustiness following his long layoff, Casey held on until the final hole.
Having missed the 17th green and failing to get up and down for bogey, Casey went one-down to Strange who parred the short penultimate hole.
On the long 18th the pair were both bunkered and missed birdie putts of around eight feet.
"I knew Paul was coming back from a bit of time off, so it was the best time to beat him," Strange said. "World rankings don't mean anything, though, when it's one on one."
Both players had quick turnarounds with Casey set to face American Ryder Cup youngster Anthony Kim and Strange playing double US Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa.
Kim beat Goosen by four holes.
"Because of the format, playing all 18 holes, it was important for me to keep my foot on the gas," Kim said. "Retief had a tough day, though."
The other two morning matches both provided surprises.
Briton Oliver Wilson defeated world number 10 Sergio Garcia on the Spaniard's home territory and Australian Robert Allenby overcame European order of merit contender Martin Kaymer of Germany.
All matches in the Thursday and Friday round-robin group stages finish on the 18th with two points awarded for a win, one for a half and nothing for a defeat. The top player from each of four groups goes through to Saturday's semi-finals.
The overall number of holes won will decide who goes through if players are tied.
Bureau Report