LONDON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Defending champion Paul Casey Thursday was among the winners on the first day of the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Surrey, England.
The native of Cheltenham, England, beat American Jerry Kelly, 3 & 2, in the opening round of the European Tour event.
"I'm going to have to play better golf (this weekend) than I did today," said a dissatisfied Casey. "I believe he was 7-under for the last 11 holes and that's very impressive."
Among other winners were six-time champion Ernie Els of South Africa, the No. 2 seed, U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina, and American Hunter Mahan.
The round's final two matches -- America's Woody Austin versus Henrik Stenson, and Argentina's Anders Romero against Sweden's Niclas Fasth -- will be completed Friday morning.
Action was suspended for the night due to darkness, after the start of the first round was delayed nearly two hours by fog.
