They started the whole championship just a few minutes after the torrential rain that covered the rest of the UK for the day left heading northwards.

'I was still half asleep on the front nine', said Campbell who is doing everything just as last year, staying in the same house and with the same chef.

In Match 2 of the opening round, Colin Montgomerie had an earlier eagle three than Campbell, hitting a 4 iron at the 4th to 2ft for a concession. The rest of the morning play against David Howell, who is very much in with a chance of taking away Monty's Order of Merit crown this year, was scrappy or brilliant. A Monty two at the 5th was followed by tree trouble then a Howell 9 iron to 8ft at the 16th to take the match back to all square. They lunched level after swapping birdies on 17 and 18.

Retief Goosen and Paul Casey started their match better than any other pairing, with four Goosen birdies taking the South African one clear after nine. Both then made a hash of the back nine to also go into the final 18 all flat.

Scott vs Weir had twelve birdies and six mistakes, four of the latter from the young Australian so that he was 2 down at lunch.

It was Robert Karlsson who produced the best golf of the morning, being round in a 'matchplay 64, courtesy of four twos on his card at the par threes. The Ryder Cup debutante for this year, up against Jim Furyk, needed only 32 foot of putts to accomplish a very rare feat - there was one chip in as well!

Angel Cabrera had the better birdie count to be one hole up on the 'local' in the field, Ernie Els. Ahead of them, Luke Donald and Tim Clarke did not have to compete for driving distance and with a 68 apiece, their afternoon was set up perfectly.

And then there was Micheel vs Woods. Tiger did not make a birdie until the 12th hole of the morning round. He had taken a couple of holes with pars but three Micheel wins in a row from the 3rd plus more mistakes by Tiger and at lunch Micheel was three up.

Woods pegged back two holes early on before failing to get down in two shots from the back of the 4th. An eight iron to just 3ft at the 7th and Micheel was back to three up. The crucial hole was the 12th. Woods made birdie but Micheel made an eagle to go four ahead.

'Shaun Micheel had a great PGA and Deutsche Bank', said Monty when asked about the form of the lower ranked seeds, 'His shot to win his PGA ranks alongside any. He can handle himself - in matchplay anyone can beat anyone!'

'I just could not get the pace', said Tiger of his defeat, 'When you haven't got the pace you can't make the read. I just holed nothing today.'

Micheel did beat someone when Woods could find nothing after the 12th to shake the man who would make the headlines

Montogmerie vs Howell turned into a great match as the standard of player jumped to top class with 11 birdies between the two players before the final six holes became crucial and very tense. The 30th to the 32nd were halved in pars before Monty went ahead with a birdie at the 16th.

Back came Howell to birdie the 17th when Monty found trees but it was the 7 time OOM winner who prevailed on the final green with a four of his own.

Going out in 33 round Wentworth isn't bad golf. In fact it is excellent. That is what Retief Goosen did only to find himself four down with nine to play after a Casey 29 (-6 to par). If there was a turning point it was on the par three 5th when Casey was 40ft away and Goosen less than 10ft. Casey holed, Goosen missed and the Englishman's putter stayed far too hot for Goosen who shook hands on the 14th.

A 33 from Mike Weir turned his lunchtime lead of 2up to one of four ahead of Adam Scott. With holes running out, Scott found two birdies to get a hole back. Four pars to the 16th though and it was all over with Weir winning 3&2.

Karlsson was not as scintillating after lunch and was pegged back two of his five hole lead. The World No 2 Furyk could not get past a confident Karlsson though when the Swede continued to make enough putts to keep the momentum of the day.

Ernie Els also shot 33 for the front nine to stay one down to Cabrera. The 10th and the 11th were halved then Els went 5 5 on the 12th and 13th, just not the sort of golf he needed on a pair of holes where birdie par is OK. That was three up for Cabrera.

You don't win six of this championship without being a fantastic golfer under pressure so two Els birdies on the 15th and 16th and Els was just one down. He then made a hash of the 17th and that was it - a weekend mowing the lawns rather than seeking a 7th World Matchplay.

The man who smiled most about the rout of the top seeds, bar himself, was last year's Champion after 'grinding out' a 3&1 win agaist Simon Khan.

'I am putting great, my irons are good - all I need to work on is the T-ball action.'

That left just one match on the course - Donald vs Clark.

Donald flew round the front nine in 32 to be four up. Back came Clarke with four birdies in the next six to make it all square. Donald hit back with a birdie at the 17th then bounced the front greenside bunker at 18 whilst Clark had a horrible stance in the fairway bunker. Clark recovered well but had to hole his third shot to take the match on, something he could not do.