Not all day one losers are completely out of the tournament – Kevin Kisner lost his first game in 2019 and went on to win it all – but 79% of players who have advanced to this event since moving to the pool their first game, according to Justin Ray.
Let’s take a look at some of Wednesday’s key games and the scores of the 16 groups after the first day of WGC-Dell Match Play.
isa Poulter 6 & 5 on Rory McIlroy: This one was difficult to watch at times as McIlroy continues to fight off the tee to the green, while Poulter continues to hit whatever he watches in any match play event anywhere in the world. McIlroy finished outside the top 50 in every stroke won category, hitting a ball in a resident’s pool and Poulter lit him at the end with a birdie or eagle at three of the last five holes. With the Masters starting two weeks from tomorrow, there is some real work to be done for McIlroy to be ready to roll in his final career Grand Slam attempt.
Matt Kuchar 3 & 2 sur Justin Thomas: JT didn’t play very badly after his Players Championship win two weeks ago, but Kuchar did everything he looked at, didn’t bogey and Thomas’s iron game wasn’t what it was on weekends at TPC Sawgrass (or somewhere else. close to that). He has time to bounce back, however, with Kevin Kisner and Louis Oosthuizen on deck for both players and Kuchar is unlikely to beat them both.
Jordan Spieth 3 & 1 sur Matt Fitzpatrick: This was what you would expect from Spieth, who at one point drove his ball onto the wrong green while Patrick Cantlay was trying to break a putt. Here’s the thing, though, and it’s been true for two straight months – Spieth rinses his irons again. He didn’t put more than 9 feet, and he didn’t need to as he almost led the field in winning shots on approach shots. He’s going to be a real problem at the Masters.
Antoine Rozner 2UP on Bryson DeChambeau: Who? The world No.64 entered the event by winning the Qatar Masters a few weeks ago and then ousted the game’s biggest attraction today. DeChambeau won him at the very end, but he didn’t hit the ball very well and only birdied two to Rozner’s five (including one at the last). The Frenchman is a relative unknown who was ranked in the world top 100 for about two months. However, like Lucas Bjerregaard a few years ago, he’s now set himself up with a chance to get out of his pool (he’s the only one to have won) and start sniffing out the 2021 European Ryder Cup squad. .
Final results of day 1
Group 1
Dustin Johnson 2UP vs. Adam Long
Robert MacIntyre 2 & 1 sur Kevin Na
Group 2
Matt Kuchar 3 & 2 sur Justin Thomas
Kevin Kisner 2 & 1 sur Louis Oosthuizen
Group 3
Jon Rahm 1UP vs. Sebastian Munoz
Ryan Palmer 4 & 2 sur Shane Lowry
Group 4
Collin Morikawa equalized JT Poston
Billy Horschel 1UP vs. Max Homa
Group 5
Antoine Rozner 2UP on Bryson DeChambeau
Tommy Fleetwood a attaché Si Woo Kim
Group 6
Xander Sc Chaudele equalized Andy Sullivan
Scottie Scheffler 2UP sur Jason Day
Group 7
Patrick Reed equalized Bubba Watson
Joaquin Niemann equalized Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Group 8
Tyrrell Hatton a égalisé Matt Wallace
Sergio Garcia 4 & 3 sur 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 sur Brian Harman
Carlos Ortiz 4 & 3 sur Hideki Matsuyama
Group 11
Ian Poulter 6 & 5 sur Rory McIlroy
Cameron Smith 1UP vs. Lanto Griffin
Group 12
Dylan Frittelli 6 & 5 sur Tony Finau
Jason Kokrak 1UP vs. Will Zalatoris
Group 13
Kevin Streelman 4 & 2 on Viktor Hovland
Abraham Ancer 3 & 2 on Bernd Wiesberger
Group 14
Daniel Berger 6 & 4 about Erik van Rooyen
Harris English 1UP sur Brendon Todd
Group 15
Jordan Spieth 3 & 1 sur Matt Fitzpatrick
Matthew Wolff 3 and 1 on Corey Conners
Group 16
Sungjae Im 1UP sur Russell Henley
Victor Perez 2 & 1 sur Marc Leishman
