WGC-Dell Match Play 2023 standings, scores: Rickie Fowler beats Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth wins first
AUSTIN, Texas — The final edition of WGC-Dell Match Play 2023 opened with great success on Wednesday as the top seeds dropped, the big names made the list and of course (of course! ) Jordan Spieth took an absurd hit that he even called “bullshit”” to win his match.
Two of the top three players in the world have won their respective matches, but the other (three-time PGA Tour champion alone this season) fell to the recovering Rickie Fowler born. However, most of the remaining top players are in good form after Day 1. That’s also a good thing, considering how often Round 1 winners have moved on to Round 16.
Let’s take a look back at some of the best matches and then see how the teams head into day two.
sad day
It wasn’t the strongest match (it took place earlier in the day), but Fowler and Rahm combined to score 10 birdies as Fowler beat the world No 2 in a surprising result. Fowler is the 4th seed in his group and needs to make it to the quarterfinals to advance masters. Day 1 is a great first step towards that.
“Jon wasn’t playing well,” Fowler said. “He’s going to be the first to tell you that. So I was expecting him to play a little bit better or a lot better than he showed today. Like I said. , luckily he won that match between Billy [Horschel] and Keith [Mitchell], both great ball strikers, both great players. I just saw that they were going to round 18 when we walked in. So both will be tough matches. I need to clean up a few things, but if I can keep it stress-free and can make a few more putts that would be great.”
walk in a walk off
If you gave me 10 guesses as to who would win their first match in the knockout, I’d guess Jordan Spieth in the first 7. And I was right all seven times. Spieth beat Mackenzie Hughes on the 15th hole 4 & 3 with this shot.
Spieth went on to call the footage “bullshit” in his post-round interview, it’s hilarious. He was more measured in his post-round press conference.
“I tried to focus on hitting and playing and not talking much,” said Spieth. “I did really well at that. I would say I didn’t do that well on my last hole. I was thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ and then I finish the shot. It doesn’t necessarily affect the way I play, but a lot less energy is used, it feels like, over the past few weeks.”
Best match
There were 13 birdies and two eagles in the Sahith Theegala-Min Woo Lee match. In the end, Lee won with a birdie, and the two combined to shoot a 58th best ball, which was amazing.
“I think it’s going to be one of the best rounds of the day, and it sucks that one of us has to win,” Lee said. “But it was fantastic, and that’s what you want in the game. We both played really well.”
PGA . Tournament
The biggest bloodbath
Sungjae Im beat Maverick McNealy 8 & 6 even though he’s only 1 point under 12 holes. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a matchmaking card more bizarre than this one.
PGA . Tournament
The star needs it
Rory McIlroy has played unevenly for over a month, but he has played 17 holes in the bottom five and held off Scott Stallings 3 & 1. He discussed two modified clubs in his pocket during the week. this: an off-axis driver and a Scotty Cameron putter.
“The driver was very nice,” he said. “Driver is really good. I’m much happier with where I am now. Obviously, being on the tee is an important part of the game for me. Putter played very well. It was a bit difficult. with speed, so maybe I’ll work on it a little bit this afternoon. But overall I’m pretty happy with my win.”
In a solo performance, Rick Gehman breaks all 32 matches from Day 1 of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club. 64 golfers in 26 minutes! Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.
Impressive performance
With new caddy Paul Tesori on his pocket, Cam Young made it 9-3 to start his day. He beat Davis Thompson on the 16th hole. They challenged Lee and Theegala within a day as they were also in 13th place after 16 holes.
“I’ve obviously been around [Tesori] a lot,” said Young. “Webb [Simpson] and I’ve played a round of scrims together 22 times over the past year, so I’ve been with him a lot, so it’s been really comfortable. I think he just brings a lot of energy, which is good for me. I’m pretty flat type. But it has been great so far. Obviously I did really well today, so I’m very excited for the rest of the week.”
WGC-Dell Match Play Rankings 2023
Group 1
Scottie Scheffler (1-0-0)
Tom Kim (1-0-0)
Alex Noren (0-1-0)
Davis Riley (0-1-0)
group 2
Jon Rahm (0-1-0)
Billy Horschel (0-0-1)
Keith Mitchell (0-0-1)
Rickie Fowler (1-0-0)
group 3
Rory McIlroy (1-0-0)
Keegan Bradley (0-0-1)
Denny McCarthy (0-0-1)
Scott Stallings (0-1-0)
group 4
Patrick Cantlay (1-0-0)
Brian Harman (1-0-0)
KH Lee (0-1-0)
Nick Taylor (0-1-0)
Group 5
Max Homa (1-0-0)
Hideki Matsuyama (1-0-0)
Kevin Kisner (0-1-0)
Justin Suh (0-1-0)
group 6
Xander Schauffele (1-0-0)
Tom Hoge (0-1-0)
Wise Aaron (1-0-0)
Orange Davis (0-1-0)
Group 7
Will Zalatoris (0-1-0)
Ryan Fox (1-0-0)
English Harris (0-1-0)
Andrew Putnam (1-0-0)
group 8
Viktor Hovland (0-1-0)
Chris Kirk (0-1-0)
Si Woo Kim (1-0-0)
Matt Kuchar (1-0-0)
Group 9
Collin Morikawa (1-0-0)
Jason Day (1-0-0)
Adam Svensson (0-1-0)
Victor Perez (0-1-0)
Group 10
Tony Finau (1-0-0)
Kurt Kitayama (0-1-0)
Adrian Meronk (1-0-0)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (0-1-0)
Group 11
Matt Fitzpatrick (0-1-0)
Sahith Theegala (0-1-0)
Min Woo Lee (1-0-0)
JJ Spaun (1-0-0)
Group 12
Jordan Spieth (1-0-0)
Shane Lowry (0-1-0)
Taylor Montgomery (1-0-0)
Mackenzie Hughes (0-1-0)
Group 13
Sam Burns (1-0-0)
Seamus Power (0-1-0)
Adam Scott (1-0-0)
Adam Hadwin (0-1-0)
Group 14
Tyrrell Hatton (0-1-0)
Russell Henley (0-1-0)
Lucas Herbert (1-0-0)
Ben Griffin (1-0-0)
Group 15
Cameron Young (1-0-0)
Sepp Straka (0-1-0)
Corey Conners (1-0-0)
Davis Thompson (0-1-0)
Group 16
Sungjae Im (1-0-0)
Tommy Fleetwood (0-1-0)
JT Poston (1-0-0)
Maverick McNealy (0-1-0)
