Shenzhen: The in-form duo of Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell humbled Ryder Cup stars Colin Montgomerie and Chris DiMarco to lead an international team to a one point lead over a Europe-United States side in the first Goodwill Trophy on yesterday (Nov 13, 2006).

Campbell, who equalled the course record with a final round 64 in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai on Sunday to finish joint third with Goosen, teamed up with his captain and they proved too hot for Monty and DiMarco.

They won 5 and 4 as the international team took a 2.5-1.5 lead over the side representing the Ryder Cup countries after the opening alternate shot foursomes over the Jack Nicklaus-designed World Cup course at Mission Hills Golf Club.

Goosen and Campbell, both former US Open champions who have a great record playing together in the Presidents Cup, won the first hole and never looked back as Monty and DiMarco struggled to find any rhythm.

"Cambo (Michael Campbell) and I are great buddies and we have done well together in the Presidents Cup. We combine well on the course and today we beat two strong Ryder Cup players," said South Africa's Goosen.

"The international team is very strong and it is good to be leading by a point after the first day. Hopefully we can build on that early on in the singles on Tuesday and go on to win. Hopefully, the Asian spice in my team can effect those guys (in the opposition) and we can pull it off," he said.

Montgomerie, widely tipped as a future Ryder Cup captain, tried to inject a light-hearted air into the post round press conference but he could not disguise the extent of the defeat suffered by himself and DiMarco.

"I thought the meaning of the event was goodwill, they did not show us any goodwill," joked Montgomerie, who has made seven appearances in the Ryder Cup and is regarded as a rock for the European side.

"They played really, really well. We made a couple of double bogeys and bogeys which did not help. The Internationals scored better than us today and deserved their overall lead. We just have to try and catch up with them on Tuesday," he said.

DiMarco, who admitted he could not buy a putt, said that Montgomerie and the other Europeans now knew how the Americans felt in their last couple of Ryder Cup defeats.

"There are seven Europeans on our team and they got a good taste of how the Americans have felt like the past two Ryder Cups," he said.

Korea's K.J. Choi and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand grabbed the other win for the international side beating Paul Casey and Alejandro Canizares 3 and 2.

Henrik Stenson, who holed the winning putt for Europe at this year's Ryder Cup, and Bradley Dredge snared a point for Monty's men with a commanding 4 and 3 triumph over the Australian duo of Peter Senior and Paul Sheehan.
The most dramatic game of the first day was the opening foursomes.

Local hero Zhang Lian-wei and India's Jeev Milkha Singh, the winner of the Volvo Masters, fought back from four down at the turn to halve with the English partnership of Luke Donald and Nick Dougherty.

Ryder Cup star Donald holed a 15 footer at the 18th to save half a point for the under fire Europe-United States side.
"In the end it was a good half for us," said Donald.

 "I had to hole a good putt at the last to keep the match at all square. We were cruising at the turn but they played really well on the back nine," he said.

A match up between the two captains, Goosen and Montgomerie, looks like being the pick of the second day singles which will decide the outcome of the two-day tournament.