Golf fans could be in for an early morning treat at Wentworth today - after seven of the eight first round games in the HSBC World Match Play championship failed to finish before darkness on the opening day.

A two-and-a-half-hour rain delay at the start of the race for the sport's biggest prize - £1m - meant only Retief Goosen earned a quarter-final place on day one.

And he had to break the tournament record to do that, thrashing American Jeff Maggert by a 12 and 11 margin.

Defending champion Ernie Els, trying for a record-busting sixth title, is two-up with two to play on Scotland's Scott Drummond - and relieved to be so handily placed entering the two closing par fives.

A massive 116 places lower than his superstar opponent on the world rankings, Drummond had hopes of pulling off one of the biggest shocks in the event's 41-year history when he took a two-hole lead on four occasions.

But the South African found top form just in time to turn things round.

An upset is still on the cards in one of them, with world number one Vijay Singh two down against Europe's Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer, at 86th the second lowest ranked player in the 16-man field. But they still have 10 holes to go.

Lee Westwood, meanwhile, stands three-up on Open champion Todd Hamilton after 29 of the 36 holes and Padraig Harrington is all square with American Ryder Cup opponent Chris Riley with four to play.

The others are tight affairs as well. Argentina's Angel Cabrera is one-up on South Korean KJ Choi with three holes left, while Ryder Cup team-mates Thomas Levet and Miguel Angel Jimenez are all square against Mike Weir and Steve Flesch respectively.

So Maggert is the only player to have departed so far - £60,000 richer after not winning a single hole. Nice work if you can get it.

Els knows he has been in a fight no matter what the outcome on the resumption - which is 8am across the board.

While 30-year-old Drummond rose to the occasion on his return to the course where he had his amazing Volvo PGA championship win in May - he was 435th in the world then - Els really struggled during the morning round. But he got out of it only one down and after a 30-minute break looked a different golfer.

The world number two birdied the 20th from six feet and the next from ten feet to go ahead for the first time.

Meanwhile, Sergio Garcia insisted he had no regrets about turning down the chance to play at Wentworth after impressing on the first day of the Mallorca Classic.

Garcia fired a four-under-par 66 at Pula Golf Club to share the clubhouse lead with compatriot Carlos Rodiles.

He said: ''It's not all about the money. I feel the Spanish fans deserve to watch me play, it's my first time in Spain this year, and I'm happy that I came here."