The golfers golf, the winds blow, the spectators spectate

The world's two best golfers, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, made their Duel at Jinsha Lake in Zhengzhou look more like a stress-free stroll on Monday, but the thousands of fans who braved the chilly conditions couldn't have cared less.

A gallery conservatively estimated at more than 2,000 happily followed world No 1 McIlroy of Northern Ireland and US great Woods, the No-2 ranked player, for the 18 holes of their stroke-play encounter and rode each drive, chip and putt with great enthusiasm at the Jinsha Lake Golf Club.

At the end of the day, McIlroy's blemish-free 5-under 67 was enough to hold off Woods by a stroke, but the hardy fans were the day's true winners.