Graeme McDowell will open the defence of his Volvo World Match Play title with a match against in-form Frenchman Alexander Levy, the winner of last week’s weather-affected Portugal Masters.
Ryder Cup star McDowell, who beat Thongchai Jaidee in last year’s final, has been drawn against Levy, Dutchman Joost Luiten and Finn Mikko Ilonen in the group stages of the 50th anniversary edition of the tournament, which gets underway at London Golf Club, in Kent, today.
McDowell is the top seed in the Gustaf Larson Group, whilst the leading lights in the Arnold Palmer, Mark McCormack and Assar Gabrielsson groups are Henrik Stenson, Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson respectively.
“It took me probably the best part of a week and a half to get over it,” said McDowell, playing for the first time since the Ryder Cup. “I got a bout of flu when I came home.
“You’re coming off the high emotionally, physically and mentally of the Ryder Cup.
“There’s a come down, there’s no doubt about it. When you have so much adrenaline flying through your system, you’ve got to come off that and sometimes your body is a little susceptible to getting ill.”
World No5 Stenson will get his challenge underway against George Coetzee, a late replacement for the injured Thomas Bjorn.
Donaldson starts with an intriguing match-up against the 2006 champion Paul Casey.
Dubuisson will be hoping to go one better than his WGC-Accenture finish this week, where his first opponent is Pablo Larrazabal.
Another noteworthy match features two stars from the PGA Tour, Swede Jonas Blixt and American Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed.
The last match out features Stephen Gallacher against Ireland’s Shane Lowry.
The group stages are spread across the first three days, with the quarter finals – featuring the top two players from each of the four groups – taking place on Saturday.
The semi-finals and final take place on Sunday, with the champion collecting ¤650,000 (Dh3m).
