STEPHEN GALLACHER is contemplating a change of tactics in an effort to improve on his poor matchplay record when he attempts to end a frustrating sequence of defeats today against Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal.
The Scottish Ryder Cup player was beaten 3 & 2 yesterday by Ireland's Shane Lowry in the opening group matches in the Volvo World Matchplay at the London Golf Club. While he complimented Lowry on his performance, the 39-year-old, from Linlithgow, also questioned his approach after having suffered a ninth consecutive matchplay defeat.
"I am not dwelling on my record yet," he said. "But I am asking myself what more I can do. There were a couple of par 5s where I didn't get up and down from the side of the green and I also drove into the rough.
"So these are fine margins and I maybe need to be more aggressive. It's not as if I am crumbling and losing badly, but I do need to play better. I'm going through a bad run at the moment but the beauty of this format is there are two more days and if I win my other matches I'll go through."
The holder Graeme McDowell took out the Frenchman Alexander Levy 3 & 2 to record his 14th win in his last 16 singles before revealing that he has been going through a period of self-analysis. "I have been unduly critical of myself too often and I've been getting sucked in by playing with these big hitters and beating myself up about it," said the 35-year-old former US Open champion from Northern Ireland.
"Playing with Rory, Stenson and Dustin Johnson I've been focusing on what I don't have instead of the tools and other qualities I do have to get round courses.
"I've got to stop being obsessed with negatives. I am a fighter but I had forgotten that about myself. I had got to thinking I was just a guy who hit it 275 off the tee and could only compete at shorter courses.
"The Masters, for example, thinking I can't win at Augusta is old school thinking and I've been too guilty of it. Zach Johnson won there, so why do I putt badly at Augusta when I'm a great putter? Next time, let's go and putt great there and see what we can do. Being sent out first in the Ryder Cup helped my belief; coming back from three down against Jordan Spieth and battling and playing well under pressure gave me a big lift. Now I have to step it up a notch in terms of belief and commitment.
"Paul McGinley took me aback when he said I was playing first because he wanted a fighter leading from the front. I think you're seeing a turnaround in my commitment. For two years I haven't been as focused, but for all the right reasons as getting and married and having a baby are special times in anyone's life.
"But I believe I can work harder and I think I've turned a corner in that regard. I realise that I want to win more majors and I'm more focused and more strongly motivated now than I have been in a long time."
Paul Casey, winner of the event in 2006, squeezed past Ryder Cup rookie Jamie Donaldson 2&1 while the Dutchman Joost Luiten and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee defeated Mikko Ilonen of Finland and Italy's Francesco Molinari by one and two holes respectively.
The Swede Jonas Blixt beat American Patrick Reed 2&1 but compatriot Henrik Stenson had to settled for a halved match against the South African George Coetzee before Victor Dubussion of France accounted for Larrazabal 3&2.
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