Opening-day defeat for Gallacher

STEPHEN Gallacher had no answer to an on-form Hunter Mahan as the Scot suffered a heavy defeat on the opening day of the Wgc-cadillac Championship in San Francisco.

Mahan, the 2012 winner, set the tone by rolling in a ten-foot hole-winning birdie putt at the first and holed just about everything thereafter as he recorded a 7&6 victory at Harding Park.

The American made his second birdie of the day from more than 30 feet at the sixth, having gone two up at the fourth after Gallacher was forced to concede following a wayward tee shot.

The Lothians man then lost the eighth to a par before Mahan turned the screw by winning both the ninth and tenth with birdies from 25 feet and nine feet respectively. He then bagged his fifth birdie of the day from 18 feet at the 12th to seal victory.

It was a sore one for Gallacher, but, with a new round-robin format in place this year, he still has a chance of progressing in a group that also contains Matt Kuchar and Ben Martin.

Scottish Open champion Justin Rose, fresh from his New Orleans Classic win, also suffered an early setback, losing 3&2 to Australian Marc Leishman.

Marc Warren was among the later starters in his match against JB Holmes.