Match Play WGC-Dell has always been full of all sorts of disorders in the early days of play, but they are almost always shocking because you never know who will be the next best-ranked victim. On Wednesday at the Austin Country Club, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau – all of the top 12 – fell in the first of three pool play matches at the second WGC event of the year. Only six of the top 16 won their games on Wednesday.
Not all Day 1 losers are completely out of the tournament – Kevin Kisner lost his first game in 2019 and won the whole thing – but 79% of the players who have advanced in this event since he switched to the pool game have won their first fight, according to Justin Ray.
Let’s look at some of Wednesday’s top matches and the scores from all 16 groups after Day 1 of the WGC-Dell Match Play.
Ia Poulter 6 and 5 on Rory McIlroy: This one was difficult to watch at times, while McIlroy continues to fight from the tee to the green, while Poulter continues to hit everything he sees in any match play event anywhere in the world. McIlroy finished out of the top 50 in all putt categories, to hit a ball in a resident’s pool and Poulter lit it at the end with a birdie or eagle on three of the last five holes. With the Masters starting in two weeks from tomorrow, there is a lot of work to do to make McIlroy ready to roll in his last grand slam attempt of his career.
Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 on Justin Thomas: JT didn’t play so badly from his Players Championship win two weeks ago, but Kuchar did everything he looked, didn’t make a bogey and Thomas’s iron game wasn’t what it was at the weekend in TPC Sawgrass (or any another place close to that). He does have some time to recover, however, with Kevin Kisner and Louis Oosthuizen on the deck for the two players and Kuchar unlikely to defeat both.
Jordan Spieth 3 and 1 on Matt Fitzpatrick: It was about what you would expect from Spieth, who at some point directed his ball to the wrong green while Patrick Cantlay tried to hit a shot. The problem is this, and this has been true for two consecutive months – Spieth is flushing again. He didn’t putt more than 2.7 meters and didn’t even need to because he almost led the field in shots from approaching shots. He’s going to be a real problem at the Masters.
Antoine Rozner 2UP on Bryson DeChambeau: Who? Player # 64 in the world squeezed into the event by winning the Qatar Masters a few weeks ago, and then pulled out of the game’s biggest draw today. DeChambeau made him win in the end, but he didn’t hit the ball very well and made only two birdies against Rozner’s five (including one in the last). The Frenchman is a stranger who has been in the top 100 in the world for about two months. However, like Lucas Bjerregaard a few years ago, he now has a chance to step out of his pool (he is the only one who won) and start sniffing the European Ryder Cup 2021 team.
Do you want the advice, choices and golf analysis driven by clearer DFS data? Listen below and subscribe to The First Cut Golf podcast, where we explain what is happening on the course so you can win with it.
Final results of day 1
Group 1
Dustin Johnson 2UP on Adam Long
Robert MacIntyre 2 and 1 on Kevin Na
Group 2
Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 on Justin Thomas
Kevin Kisner 2 and 1 on Louis Oosthuizen
Group 3
Jon Rahm 1UP on Sebastian Munoz
Ryan Palmer 4 and 2 on Shane Lowry
Group 4
Collin Morikawa drew with JT Poston
Billy Horschel 1UP on Max Homa
Group 5
Antoine Rozner 2UP on Bryson DeChambeau
Tommy Fleetwood drew with Si Woo Kim
Group 6
Xander Schauffele drew with Andy Sullivan
Scottie Scheffler 2UP at Jason Day
Group 7
Patrick Reed drew with Bubba Watson
Joaquin Niemann drew with Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Group 8
Tyrrell Hatton drew with Matt Wallace
Sergio Garcia 4 and 3 on Lee Westwood
Group 9
Webb Simpson 6 and 5 on Talor Gooch
Mackenzie Hughes 3 and 2 on Paul Casey
Group 10
Patrick Cantlay 1UP over Brian Harman
Carlos Ortiz 4 and 3 on Hideki Matsuyama
Group 11
Ian Poulter 6 and 5 on Rory McIlroy
Cameron Smith 1UP on Lanto Griffin
Group 12
Dylan Frittelli 6 & 5 on Tony Finau
Jason Kokrak 1UP on Will Zalatoris
Group 13
Kevin Streelman 4 and 2 on Viktor Hovland
Abraham Ancer 3 and 2 on Bernd Wiesberger
Group 14
Daniel Berger 6 and 4 on Erik van Rooyen
Harris English 1UP about Brendon Todd
Group 15
Jordan Spieth 3 and 1 on Matt Fitzpatrick
Matthew Wolff 3 and 1 on Corey Conners
Group 16
Sungjae Im 1UP on Russell Henley
Victor Perez 2 and 1 on Marc Leishman