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Last Updated: Mar 24, 2017 - 11:17:09 PM |
Round one report
Søren Kjeldsen prevailed from a classic encounter to beat World Number Two Rory McIlroy 2&1 on day one of the WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Texas.
“I felt good coming into today," said Kjeldsen. "And spoke to my caddie
Alistair yesterday and he said, you know, go and shoot five under and
see if it's enough. Don't worry about him. Obviously he's pretty
spectacular player so you don't want to be watching too much! I knew
that I had to play well to have any kind of a chance, therefore, I
didn't look too much at what Rory was doing. I played really, really
well.
“Coming in as the 64th player this week, I am technically
the underdog in every match. It's nice. I haven't had the best start to
this season this year in America, but the last few weeks have been
getting a little bit better. So I felt good and I think you can talk a
lot about match play, but at the end of the day you need to shoot good
scores that's what I managed to do today.
“I think I did a good
job of not worrying about what Rory was doing. A few times he hit it
about 100 yards past me. I was trying not to look at that too much. I
knew I had to play well to have a chance. To be honest with you, that's
case in every match this week. The players are so good that you need to
be on your game. I got into my little zone. Alistair and I work really
well and I managed to hit a lot of good shots and make some putts.”
McIlroy - the 2015 champion - was one of the favourites coming into the week but will now face an uphill battle to get out of Group Two after Kjeldsen produced a stunning performance.
The Dane finished with four birdies to win a roller coaster of a contest where the lead changed hands five times.
That match was certainly among the best of the 32 encounters on what was an enthralling first day. Other highlights included Race to Dubai Number One Tommy Fleetwood birdeing the 18th to win one up over Zach Johnson, while Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry halved an intriguing match on the 18th when Lowry made a bogey to allow the Spaniard to win the hole and halve the match.
Englishman Tyrrell Hatton continued his incredible run of form with a 2&1 win over Charles Howell III, while Belgium’s Thomas Pieters – the man who became Europe’s most successful Ryder Cup Rookie last year – continued to forge a fine match play reputation with a 3&2 win over Scott Piercy
At the other end of the scoring spectrum there were convincing victories for World Number One Dustin Johnson (5&3 over Webb Simpson); Phil Mickelson (5&3 over Si Woo Kim), Daniel Berger (7&5 over JB Holmes) and Charl Schwartzel (6&5 over Ben An).
See attached pdf for full first round results: R1 - Brackets with results.pdf
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