Kim, Singh rout favourites at World Match Play

India's Jeev Milka Singh and America's Anthony Kim laid down early markers with emphatic victories on an opening day full of upsets at the World Match Play Championship here on Thursday.

Kim stormed to the top of Group A by defeating two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa and English top seed Paul Casey, while Singh thrashed world number five Lee Westwood to take command of Group D.

"I haven't had this much fun playing golf in quite a long time," said Kim.

"It's been a tough year, but my coach and I had a great week last week and I feel like I finally started progressing instead of going backwards."

England's Oliver Wilson leads Group B after defeating both Spanish fourth seed Sergio Garcia and Germany's Martin Kaymer by one hole, with Australia's Robert Allenby second thanks to a win over Kaymer and a half with Garcia.

Angel Cabrera of Argentina shares the Group C summit with England's Simon Dyson after they both won their opening matches, while Dyson's compatriot Ross Fisher is level with Singh in Group D after beating Argentine Camilo Villegas.

A torrid opening day for the leading contenders ended with Casey, Garcia and Kaymer all eliminated from the competition.

In a break from the tournament's traditional knockout format, players in each four-man group play in a round-robin with the top player from each of the four groups progressing to the semi-finals on Saturday.

Casey, the world number four, was returning to action after an 11-week absence but lost his opening match against Australia's Scott Strange when he missed a seven-foot birdie putt to tie the match on the 18th hole.

Kim was three shots up on Casey at the turn and secured victory on the 16th, with all matches being played to completion so that statistics for aggregate number of holes won can be used to separate players on the same points.

Wilson overcame a neck complaint to beat Garcia one up in Group B before defeating Kaymer, who has only recently returned to action after breaking his toes in a go-kart accident in August, by the same margin.

"I was very nervous all day yesterday," said Wilson, who had to pull out of the Players' Championship in May with the same injury.

"I get so conscious of it and didn't sleep very well trying to stay in the right position.

"Towards the end of my first match it was tightening up, but overall it was pretty good and to win twice on the first day is everything I wanted to do.

"To beat Sergio in Spain is a really good scalp for me."

Fifth seed Kaymer lost his opening match by one hole against Allenby, who was denied a second victory against Garcia when the Spaniard produced a birdie on the 18th that halved the match.

Singh was five up on second seed Westwood after just seven holes and went on to secure a resounding six-up victory with a birdie on the last.

Fisher followed suit, producing a birdie four on the 18th to wrap up a two-up win against Villegas that puts him level on two points with Singh in Group D.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy slumped to a five-hole defeat against Argentine Masters champion Cabrera despite being all-square after 10 holes.

Cabrera notched birdies on five of the last eight holes to claim the win, while Dyson also got off to a winning start in Group C when he beat Sweden's world number seven Henrik Stenson three-up.

Players in Group C and D play twice on Friday, when Groups A and B will also conclude.