One of the two big favorites of the week, Jon Rahm, was defeated on the first day of the World Match Match Championship, played in Austin, Texas.
The Spaniard, ranked 2e in the world, was defeated 2&1 by Rickie Fowler despite winning two of the first three holes of the matchup.
The other big favorite, Scottie Scheffler, fought hard to beat Davis Riley by two holes with a birdie on the last green to secure his victory.
Reigning champion of the event, the Texan also participated in the final during the 2021 edition.
Among the Canadians, only Corey Conners had success in the first game of three games played in the group stage by easily defeating Sepp Straka at the count of 6 & 5.
His compatriots Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor and Adam Svensson were all defeated in the tournament opener.
Oldest player in the running (44 years old), Matt Kuchar defeated Viktor Hovland for a 35th win, one win from equaling Tiger Woods’ mark.
Playing with a new putter, Rory McIlroy prevailed 3 and 1 against Scott Stallings.
A draw with the flavor of victory
After 11 years, Keegan Bradley is now 16 games without a win in the Match Match Championship.
On Wednesday, he at least managed to extract a moral victory.
Down by four holes with five holes to play, Bradley snatched a draw against Denny McCarthy at the Austin Country Club as the tournament’s curtain-raiser.
“It did me a lot of good,” Bradley said. It’s a result that can take you far, so it’s exciting. »
Bradley took part in this tournament for the first time in 2012, beating Geoff Ogilvy, who has the best victory rate in the history of the Championship by hole (80%).
It is his only win to date as he has lost nine times since, in addition to having split the honors of seven confrontations.
The top two golfers from each of the 16 pools will advance to the knockout stage which will crown the champion in a marathon of up to 126 holes.
