WENTWORTH, England (AFP) - Victorious Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer pulled off a stunning upset in the first round of the World Match Play Championship when he beat world number one Vijay Singh at the 37th hole.
There was also victory for the four other European Ryder Cup heroes playing here this week.
The 47-year-old German, who has played little golf over the past 16 months as he plotted Europe's historic victory over the United States at Oakland Hills last month, looked set for an easy win when he moved to three up with four holes left.
But Singh showed why he has dethroned Tiger Woods atop the world rankings by pulling back to all square after 36 holes.
Langer however kept his nerve to win the first extra hole on Friday.
"It reminded me of that old bible story when litle David beat Goliath. That's how I felt," said Langer. "He's number one in the world and I'm somewhere in the mid seventies. He was the hot favourite."
A deflated Singh admitted the better man on the day won.
"I did well to get back into the match when I was three down with three birdies in a row but to be honest I didn't play well enough in the match to win," he said.
The two were amongst 14 players who were forced to finish their first round showdowns on Friday because torrential rain caused a two and a half hour delay on Thursday.
Langer's victory puts him up against one of the players he inspired in Europe's record breaking Ryder Cup win - Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The Spaniard beat American Steve Flesch 3 and 2.
There was also victory for the three other Ryder Cup heroes competing for the one million pound first prize.
Frenchman Thomas Levet, playing in his first World Match Play Championship, saw off former Master's champion Mike Weir in a classic match-play struggle.
Levet won 2 and 1 as the lead switched back and forth as the two players battled down to the 35th hole.
"When we restarted I played a lot better than Mike did. He struggled a lot from the tee which made it really hard for him," said the Frenchman.
Lee Westwood had a slightly easier time against Open champion Todd Hamilton.
Westwood, a winner in this championship five years ago, beat the American a convincing 4 and 3.
"I holed a couple of good ones from 20 feet. Good way to finish and it was always difficult for him to come back from there," said the Englishman.
Ireland's Padraig Harrington completed the European Ryder Cup players whitewash with a 2 and 1 over US Ryder Cup player Chris Riley.
"It was a super match," said Harrington.
But while the European players were celebrating, the ominous shadow of Ernie Els, looking for a record sixth title in this championship, continued to loom large.
Els finished off his rain-delayed first round match with a 2 and 1 win over Scott Drummond.
Els was simply relieved at getting his defence back on track after he had trailed against the Scotsman.
"Scott certainly made a contest of it. I wasn't as sharp as I could be in the first 18 holes and knew I had to get off to a better start in the scecond and I did that," said Els.
"He showed a lot of character and I'm just happy to get through," said the South African.
In the other two first round matches Angel Cabrera saw off South Korea's KJ Choi, 1 up, and Retief Goosen, in the only match to finish on Thursday, crushed American Jeff Maggert in a record-breaking 12 and 11.
Second round draw
Ernie Els (RSA) v Angel Cabrera (ARG), Padraig Harrington (IRL) v Thomas Levet (FRA), Retief Goosen (RSA) v Lee Westwood (ENG), Miguel Angel Jimenez (SPA) v Bernhard Langer (GER)