The list includes local favorite Jordan Spieth, who played collegiately at the nearby University of Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas — One concern tournament organizers — and sponsors — have had in the past with the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is that many of the top names have been sent packing prior to the weekend.
And while the 2022 version of the event had as many top seeds emerge from the pack as any in recent memory, a number of top names were still eliminated early, including local favorite Jordan Spieth, who played collegiately at the nearby University of Texas.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest names who didn’t make it out of pool play and thus didn’t make it to the weekend.
Bland is the first to admit he’s still scrambling to learn New Math.
AUSINT, Texas — Please pardon Richard Bland. As with many others peeking at a 50th birthday on the horizon, Bland is the first to admit he’s still scrambling to learn New Math.
For example, the journeyman — who captured his first European Tour victory last at the Betfred British Masters in his 478th start — had been advised by those on his side to sit out the last few weeks, regardless of his desire to improve his Official World Golf Ranking prior to the upcoming Masters.
“In all my career I really never had to worry about my World Ranking and then suddenly when I went to I think 53 after Dubai, it’s been really weird,” Bland said after his match Friday at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. “I’ve had a guy sort of helping me with sort of permutations, and he’s going like, ‘It’s probably best you don’t play this week — or not this week, you know, on another week.’
“And I’m like, ‘How does that work? I want to play.’ And I didn’t play for three weeks and I think I went up seven spots. So I was kind of thinking, well, if I don’t play for the rest of the year I might be world No. 1.”
Bland might not be due to overtake Jon Rahm any time soon, but the Englishman is playing some of the best golf of his life, regardless of his ranking. And in a group with high-profile players like Bryson DeChambeau, Lee Westwood and Talor Gooch, Bland surprisingly emerged from Pool 9 at Austin Country Club, meaning he’s reached the Round of 16, which begins Saturday.
He edged Westwood 2 and 1 on Friday to advance. Bland, the bracket’s No. 54 seed, will face No. 8 seed Dustin Johnson next.
And while the questions about his age keep surfacing — Bland is the oldest player to advance out of group play since the format was introduced in 2015 and he’s getting closer to qualifying for his first Masters at a time when he should be sharpening up for the PGA Tour Champions — he takes it all in stride.
“I guess probably someone at 49 shouldn’t be doing this for the first time. But I guess there’s always the exception to the rule, isn’t there? Not necessarily just in golf. You see it in other sports as well,” he said. “You look at Bernhard Langer, 63, 64 years old, still winning on Champions tour. What an inspiration that is for someone like myself who is maybe looking to a career in the next couple years on Champions tour.
“If you stay fit and healthy, maybe I’ve got another 10 or 12 years in me yet, who knows. So, yeah, you’ve only got to kind of look at it, in tennis you still got, okay, Rafa Nadal’s still beating all the young ones, and Roger Federer, I’m sure when he comes back will be exactly the same. So there’s always the exception to the rule. So it’s quite nice to be that exception.”
He’s certainly due the consideration for Augusta. After winning the British Masters last May, he held a share of the lead after two rounds at last summer’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He was also in the hunt at the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year, falling in a playoff to Viktor Hovland.
Now, his showing in Austin continues to fill his schedule one that was supposed to be clear this week. In fact, he was due to take his wife Catrin to New York next week for her 40th birthday. Instead, his impressive play netted him a spot in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
It’s all an equation Bland didn’t think he’d have to work on, but one that he’s thoroughly soaking up.
“She flies in tomorrow,” Bland said. “With getting an invite into the Valero next week I had to put it kind of nicely that we’re not going to New York. She said she’s coming here. So that will probably cost me a bit more with a birthday present.”
Austin’s adopted son never could get untracked early.
Collin Morikawa and Sergio Garcia were the marquee group of the day on the second round of the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament Thursday at Austin Country Club.
But someone forgot to tell Garcia until the back nine.
And when they did, Garcia’s game went into overdrive as he won three consecutive holes on 14, 15 and 16 and scrambled from an errant tee shot under the oak trees with one of his patented recovery shots to sink a 3-foot par putt on 18 for the draw.
Make no mistake, however.
Garcia “won” this tie, and Morikawa “lost” it.
At least, emotionally.
Of course, that’s how even everyone expected this round two match to be between two of the best ball-strikers in the game, the second-ranked player in the world against one of the game’s most experienced veterans. This was a showcase matchup, and both showed their top-shelf games, at least at different times.
Sergio Garcia fell behind by three holes through 11 of his second-round match with No. 2-seeded Collin Morikawa but fought back to force a draw.
“I’m not going to lie,” a relieved Garcia said. “I’m happy with it.”
Morikawa wishes he could say the same. However, after building a 3-up lead after nine holes and sustaining it the first two holes on the back nine, he let it get away from him to leave both golfers at 1-0-1 in Group 2 play.
Their immediate futures will be settled Friday when Garcia faces Jason Kokrak, who won his match with Robert MacIntyre 3 and 2 to improve to 1-1, and Morikawa goes up against the winless MacIntyre. The winners advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals, a spot Garcia has clinched each of the last two years.
“I can still get out of group play,” Morikawa said.
Their longer-term futures have longer shelf lives.
Morikawa, a whiz kid out of Cal, already has a pair of major championships in his pocket as he became the eighth player since 1920 to win multiple majors before the age of 25. He did so by capturing the 2020 PGA Championship in his backyard and last year’s British Open at the expense of Texas’ Jordan Spieth by two strokes when Morikawa put together a string of 31 consecutive holes without a bogey.
Incidentally, Spieth was the seventh player to pull off that magical feat at such a tender age in 2015.
Now while Garcia ranks 49th in the world and Spieth 15th, Morikawa is a solid No. 2 behind only Jon Rahm and on a path to becoming No. 1. He’s got five wins on Tour and two of them majors along with a tie for fourth in last year’s U.S. Open and eighth in his PGA Championship defense.
That’s consistency, folks.
“When you play a guy who’s so solid and who’s such a good player, he’s not a guy who’s going to give away things easy,” Garcia said. “But I did the first seven or eight holes.”
Garcia, Morikawa’s senior by almost two decades, was resourceful if not refined in the early going, but showed the savviness and creativity of his game that has helped make him one of the premier match-play artists in his sport.
Collin Morikawa waits for Sergio Garcia before hitting out of the sand on #7 during the second round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
He hasn’t been on his game of late. But the 42-year-old Spaniard, who lives part-time out at Spanish Oaks, has just a single top-10 finish this season with a tie for seventh at Mayakoba and only one win on the PGA Tour since his impressive Masters victory in 2017.
Morikawa has been tearing it up everywhere but Austin, failing to get out of the group play last year when he went 0-2-1 and lost to eventual champion Billy Horschel, but he’s obviously in the thick of things this week.
He admitted to being “a little bit” irritated by the turn of the events, but credits a man who with 29 victories has more match-play wins than anyone but Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar and Ian Poulter and who has been a mainstay for the Europeans with 10 Ryder Cup appearances.
“Sergio made three birdies in a row,” Morikawa said. “And birdies are going to win holes.”
Austin’s adopted son never could get untracked early, pulling his irons and burning one hole after another with his putts, but he came on in a rush when he had to.
The 25-year-old Morikawa looked as if he would school his more seasoned opponent on a crystal clear Thursday when he methodically built up a 3-up lead on the front nine.
Not even the backing of Longhorn fans seemed to help.
Garcia, of course, is married to the former Angela Akins, daughter of Texas All-American wishbone quarterback Marty Akins and his wife Pam.
When he was introduced on the first tee by announcer Ed Clements, he received loud applause and flashed the Hook ’em Horns sign. He did the same when he reached the green on the final hole.
Just the day before, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian tagged along in the gallery to root on Garcia in his winning match over MacIntyre. The two are tight. Sarkisian even spoke at Garcia’s junior golf event.
This marquee pairing had some of the biggest crowds Thursday, especially on the front nine where they lined the fairways and shouted their support of Garcia.
Morikawa put Garcia behind the 8-ball from the outset. His lob wedge shot on the first hole backspin and cozied up to the hole just inches from the cup for a conceded birdie. Garcia’s seven-foot attempt lipped out, and he found himself down 1 from the get go.
Morikawa won the fifth hole to go 2 up after both hit terrific approach shots to identical distances from the pin, so close that Morikawa flipped a coin to see who would putt first. He then drained his 10-footer for a second birdie.
Disaster almost struck Morikawa on the sixth hole when his approach shot from the rough sailed right, bounced high off a slope and deep into the mulch beyond the cart path maybe 100 yards from the green. “A different zip code,” cracked golfer-turned-broadcaster Dylan Frittelli on PGA Tour Live.
Morikawa could have mailed it in from deep in the woods, but salvaged a par with a great chip. Garcia failed to cash in as his 15-foot birdie attempt slid by.
He tossed his ball to PGA volunteer scorer Terry Whitlow from Carrollton as she joked, “I should get an assist. He got rid of his bad ball.”
However, there were more in his bag where that came from when he nailed his tee shot on No. 7 but couldn’t convert. That run of bad luck continued on No. 9 when his approach shot out of a fairway bunker nestled in the canyon below the green, costing him a bogey and a 3-down deficit at the turn.
The two traded punches on the back nine, and a key par on 11 helped save Garcia’s bacon.
“When that putt on 11 was put in the bag,” he said, “I got a little bit of happiness in me. My putt on 15 (from 30 feet) was massive after he made a long putt for par.”
Sergio Garcia looks on from the sixth hole during the first day of the 2022 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
More joy was to come.
A rare Morikawa bogey on the par-5 12th gave Garcia an opening, but the 2 seed took it right back with a birdie putt from 14 feet, prompting Morikawa to throw a fist pump.
One hole later, Garcia put some more pressure on his opponent when he sank a 10-foot birdie putt on 14 — his first birdie of the day — to come within two holes with four to play. He almost went up on the 17th hole when Morikawa’s tee shot flew into the bunker, but Garcia’s 18-foot birdie putt came up inches short.
Then the save on 18 with a terrific low sand wedge to the green, and Garcia was still alive with much on the line Friday and the majors beginning next month.
“My game still needs to improve,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. There are some things I need to get better at. I feel like I’ve been playing OK, but not to my standards. Not amazing.”
Everything you need to know for Friday’s matches in Austin.
The PGA Tour has made its way to the Lone Star State. Who’s ready for some match play?
The bracket is packed with most of the world’s best players at this week’s 2022 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. Friday’s matches will be the final round of pool play before the field is cut to the winner’s of each pool for the knockout stage.
Here’s everything you need to know for Thursday’s second day of matches at the 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. All times Eastern.
Friday matches, tee times
Time
Players
10:20 a.m.
Billy Horschel vs. Thomas Pieters
10:31 a.m.
Tom Hoge vs. Min Woo Lee
10:42 a.m.
Scottie Scheffler vs. Matt Fitzpatrick
10:53 a.m.
Tommy Fleetwood vs. Ian Poulter
11:04 a.m.
Tyrrell Hatton vs. Daniel Berger
11:15 a.m.
Si Woo Kim vs. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
11:26 a.m.
Patrick Cantlay vs. Sungjae Im
11:37 a.m.
Seamus Power vs. Keith Mitchell
11:48 a.m.
Bryson DeChambeau vs. Talor Gooch
11:59 a.m.
Lee Westwood vs. Richard Bland
12:10 p.m.
Dustin Johnson vs. Max Homa
12:21 p.m.
Matthew Wolff vs. Mackenzie Hughes
12:32 p.m.
Brooks Koepka vs. Shane Lowry
12:43 p.m.
Harold Varner III vs. Erik van Rooyen
12:54 p.m.
Jon Rahm vs. Patrick Reed
1:05 p.m.
Cameron Young vs. Sebastián Muñoz
1:16 p.m.
Jordan Spieth vs. Adam Scott
1:27 p.m.
Justin Rose vs. Keegan Bradley
1:38 p.m.
Justin Thomas vs. Kevin Kisner
1:49 p.m.
Marc Leishman vs. Luke List
2 p.m.
Joaquin Niemann vs. Kevin Na
2:11 p.m.
Russell Henley vs. Maverick McNealy
2:22 p.m.
Viktor Hovland vs. Will Zalatoris
2:33 p.m.
Cameron Tringale vs. Sepp Straka
2:44 p.m.
Corey Conners vs. Alex Noren
2:55 p.m.
Xander Schauffele vs. Tony Finau
3:06 p.m.
Lucas Herbert vs. Takumi Kanaya
3:17 p.m.
Abraham Ancer vs. Webb Simpson
3:28 p.m.
Brian Harman vs. Bubba Watson
3:39 p.m.
Collin Morikawa vs. Jason Kokrak
3:50 p.m.
Sergio Garcia vs. Robert MacIntyre
Format
The field of 64 players has been split into 16 groups of four players. Players face everyone within their group in match play Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and earn one point for a win and a half-point for a tie. The player with the most points in each group moves on to the knockout rounds. The group tiebreaker is sudden-death stroke play.
The Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are Saturday, followed by the semifinal, third-place and final matches Sunday.
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Only three of the top seven seeds captured a point in their matches Thursday at Austin Country Club.
AUSTIN, Texas — As is often the case at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play — an event that can produce similar chaos to its NCAA basketball counterparts that run in the same month — the second round of action busted quite a few brackets and put some others on notice.
Bryson DeChambeau, making his return from an injury, was quickly eliminated after two erratic and uneven performances. Local favorites Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler were thumped by Englishmen Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, respectively, and will likely need to win on Friday to advance.
And the hottest player and current Cinderella is a relative unknown, 42-seeded Irishman Seamus Power, who followed up Wednesday’s thrashing of Sungjae Im by unloading on World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, taking a second consecutive match 5 and 4.
It all sets up for an interesting final day of pool play when action resumes Friday at Austin Country Club.
Justin Rose shakes hands with Jordan Spieth after winning their match during the second day of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. (Photo: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports)
Brooks Koepka is also circling after a pair of victories in the opening two rounds, beating Harold Varner III 2 and 1 on Thursday after topping Erik van Rooyen on Wednesday.
Koepka never trailed to Varner, using a string of three consecutive birdies on the front nine to get ahead for good. Although he has two points, Koepka could still fail to reach the Round of 16 if he loses Friday, then falls in a playoff.
Either way, the four-time major champ insisted he won’t coast, even though his name comfortably sits atop his pool.
“I don’t ever have expectations. I show up and I want to win. I feel like I can. But I think that’s where guys screw up, they start thinking ahead. That’s where nerves come into play,” Koepka said. “You start thinking about, well, if I could just par these last two, I can get in the clubhouse and win or whatever, and that’s usually when guys make mistakes, instead of just finishing off the round and play exactly like you would, they change up the game plan.
“I never get ahead of myself. It’s just whatever shot is in front of me, I just worry about that one, I could care less what I’ve got in front, two holes, a hole, whatever, it doesn’t make a difference.”
Top-seeded Jon Rahm was victorious, but only three of the top seven seeds captured a point in their matches Thursday as Collin Morikawa tied Sergio Garcia while Cantlay, fifth-seeded Scheffler and Xander Schauffele (No. 7) all lost.
Reigning champ Billy Horschel posted a 3-and-2 victory over Tom Hoge, giving him seven consecutive victories in the event — his last five matches last year to win the title and the first two this year — which leaves him six short of matching Tiger Woods, who holds the record with 13 consecutive wins in the Match Play from 2003-05. Woods also is the only player to win back-to-back Match Play titles.
Among those with two points after two rounds of play are Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Corey Conners, Alex Noren and Lucas Herbert, who holed out a putt on the 18th hole to defeat Schauffele.
The 20th-seeded Fitzpatrick was ecstatic to be in an advantageous position after he topped fellow English countryman Ian Poulter, 4 and 2.
“This is a miracle,” he said. “This is the closest I’ve gotten to getting out of the group. I’m happy with the start. The good thing is it’s in my hands, so if I go out and win tomorrow, I’ll go through.”
The third round of pool play is Friday. After that, the field will be trimmed to 16 players and single elimination will begin Saturday.
“There are stats that Tiger has accomplished and that he has that are just mind blowing.”
Billy Horschel is more than halfway to catching Tiger Woods.
With a 3-and-2 victory over Tom Hoge on Thursday at windy Austin Country Club in Texas in the second round of pool play in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Horschel has won seven consecutive matches in the event.
The defending champion last lost, 4 and 2 to J.T. Poston, in last year’s second round of pool play. He won his last five matches last year to win the title and the first two this year.
That leaves him six short of matching Woods, who holds the record with 13 consecutive wins in the Match Play from 2003-05. Woods also is the only player to win back-to-back Match Play titles.
“There are stats that Tiger has accomplished and that he has that are just mind blowing. Things that you just can’t imagine and when you think about 13 straight matches won, you don’t think that’s a big deal, but when you realize it, it’s two years of match play and not losing almost,” Horschel said. “There’s nothing I can say that someone hasn’t already said about him, so if somehow I was able to continue on a great streak and win the next five matches and then come back and win one match next year, it would be really cool to have my name next to him.”
Horschel will play Thomas Pieters in the final round of pool play; Pieters moved to 1-1-0 with a 1-up win over Min Woo Lee. Horschel made a 50-footer for birdie on the first hole to grab a lead he never relinquished.
“I think I don’t toot my own horn. I’m not one of those guys to tell you how great I am at what I do,” said Horschel, the 2014 FedEx Cup champion. “I’m a grinder. Yes, I can make it look pretty sometimes but I’m OK playing in the mud and grinding it out and I’m a really good putter inside 10 feet, which is crucial in match play. I love the format and right now obviously I’m having a lot of success.
“I’ve been lucky that the two guys I’ve played have made some mistakes. So it’s allowed me not to have to really do anything special.”
Among others to move to 2-0-0 were Alex Noren, who won when Paul Casey conceded due to back spasms for the second consecutive day. Noren will face Corey Connors, who beat Louis Oosthuizen, 2 and 1, to move to 2-0-0, in the final round of pool play.
Also improving to 2-0-0 was Lucas Herbert, who beat Xander Schauffele, 1 up.
“I played a lot of amateur golf with Xander and I feel like he’s obviously had a quicker rise than I did to the PGA Tour and to that top 10 in the world, but I felt like back seven or eight years ago we probably had similar games and I feel like I’m getting somewhere near where he is,” Herbert said. “So I didn’t feel super out of place playing against him, I felt like I knew him and had spent a bit of time with him out at events and practicing and that kind of thing with him before.
“So I think that was a big benefit to me versus playing against someone I had not really met before and not played any golf against.”
Matt Fitzpatrick, who beat Ian Poulter, 4 and 2, also moved to 2-0-0, and Seamus Power won his second consecutive match with a 5-and-4 romp over Patrick Cantlay.
“This is a miracle. This is the closest I’ve gotten to getting out of the group,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m happy with the start. The good thing is it’s in my hands, so if I go out and win tomorrow, I’ll go through.”
The third round of pool play continues Friday. After Friday’s action, the field will be trimmed to 16 players and single elimination will begin Saturday.
Casey didn’t even show up to the tee box for his second-round match with Alex Noren.
AUSTIN, Texas — Paul Casey conceded his first match of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Wednesday after just two holes — one he won — citing back spasms as the reason.
On Thursday, he didn’t even show up to the tee box for his second-round match with Alex Noren at Austin Country Club.
Casey said he was taped, went through physio and had ice and heat treatments before realizing he simply couldn’t compete.
“Purely, it’s a thing when you get to your 40s. But that’s I guess what’s causing the pain in the spasms up the back,” he said. “I’ve had it, I’ve probably had this like four, five times in 20 years, but it’s, so it’s not an injury, it’s just, what is it? Fatigue? Could be back from still Players and the cold weather and all sorts of stuff and traveling.
“And I wanted to play today, but you just, you just saw it. I mean it’s like, it hurt — I was in there for a good hour this morning getting more treatment, hoping I could go, just tender on the putting green and then started to feel it on the chipping green and then couldn’t get past a 9-iron, so …”
Casey was in contention at the Players Championship two weeks ago, finishing third in a tournament marred by windy, chilly conditions. He then withdrew from the Valspar Championship, a tournament he won back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.
When asked if he’d try again Friday in a scheduled match with Louis Oosthuizen, Casey said he wasn’t certain, but added that he didn’t think he could do any long-term damage if he did play.
“I’m not going to injure it, but it’s a, it’s a muscular thing that’s just, it just hurts. So I can’t injure it. It’s not a skeletal type, bones out of place or anything,” he said. “I don’t know. I mean, I can’t go through, so it’s kind of like what’s the point? I hate to just give a guy a match, and that would be Louis tomorrow. I guess that makes it even, doesn’t it, I give one to Corey, about to give one to Alex.”
Even if he does play on Friday, Casey won’t be able to advance to Saturday’s Round of 16, something he’s done with consistency in his previous 11 starts at the match-play event. The three-time PGA Tour winner has two second-place finishes in this tournament and has reached the final 16 in all but four of those appearances.
With the victory on Friday, Noren is now 2-0 with one remaining match against Conners.
The world’s best players are in Austin, Texas, this week for a unique stop on the men’s professional golf schedule.
Austin Country Club plays host to the 2022 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play once again, and with eight of the top-12 players in the world (as well as 63 of the top 69) in the bracket, some matches stand out among the rest.
Thursday’s slate alone features a Match Play record holder, a duel between major champions, a must-win match to avoid elimination, and a Sin City showdown pitting the old school vs. new.
Check out the top five matches to watch during the second day of action in Austin (all times Eastern).
During pool play, Thomas Pieters hit a ball that landed against a sprinkler on the 13th hole at Austin Country Club.
Pieters, who was battling Tom Hoge, was not extended relief because a marked penalty line touched the sprinkler head region. He lost the hole but went on to win the match, 2 and 1.
But Young said the line should have been painted around the area, a mistake he said might have been the result of painting the line during windy conditions.
When Bryson DeChambeau hit a ball into the same area later in the day, rules officials had already decided the intention of the line was to allow for a drop from the sprinkler. DeChambeau was given a drop, salvaged a par on the hole, and went on to tie Richard Bland in his opening-round match.
“Obviously, in match play, each match is its own individual story … To me, two wrongs don’t make a right. So to make the correction before Bryson’s match got there was important when we heard about the original ruling. The way the penalty area is marked, the line — and as you look at them out on the golf course — the line kind of goes around each sprinkler head, keeping it in the general area of the golf course, not in the penalty area, that way players always going to get relief.
“When the golf course was marked the line got a little bit closer. Obviously, there’s a lot of wind when you’re marking these golf courses. The line got a little too close to it. The official who ruled on it was going based on what he was looking at, okay?
“Obviously, the intention was to keep them all out outside, but when he was looking at it, he ruled on it based on the fact that that red line was technically touching both the ball and the sprinkler head. So at that time, I don’t want to say he ruled incorrectly because I think he ruled based on what he’s looking at it. It then got brought to our attention, we talked about it as a committee and said, and felt very firmly two wrongs don’t make a right. We’ve got to correct this because clearly, it should be outside.
“As they were down on their way down there with some paint to correct the line, the Bryson situation came up. He called me on the phone and asked, he said, ‘I’ve got the same situation. Now that I know the intention was to have it outside the penalty area, are you comfortable with me ruling on it that way?’ And I said, ‘yes, I want you to rule on that way because we’re about to change the marking on it.’ There was nothing we could do to fix the Thomas Pieters situation, it was over with, but just to get it right, was important.
“It’s the great part of the fact that this is match play and we can make those changes because each individual match, you know, you could change something like that. If it was a stroke-play event, we would had to keep it that way through the entire day until all competitors finish their round and then make the change. But because of match play, we did it in between.”
While he was searching for parts of his golf game, DeChambeau seemed ecstatic to be back in the public eye.
AUSTIN, Texas — If Bryson DeChambeau was looking to quietly slide back into PGA Tour action nearly two months since he’d last played a round of competitive golf, he certainly found the perfect stage for it on Wednesday.
Due to a loaded field and a late start time, the gallery following the 2020 U.S. Open champ was paltry by normal standards, with only a few wisecracks to be heard as he walked the grounds at Austin Country Club.
And although Brian Zeigler, DeChambeau’s caddie, seemed to be seeking attention by sporting a pair of circa-1970 striped tube socks pulled high up his leg, in hipster-friendly Austin, even that only drew a handful of stares.
But most accommodating on Wednesday was his opponent, 49-year-old journeyman Richard Bland, who had every chance to hop on a rusty and erratic DeChambeau, but failed to ever manage a lead before eventually earning a draw in the opening match of pool play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Having last played at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January, DeChambeau told Golf Channel on Tuesday that he had no expectations heading into the week, one in which he finally returned from a hand injury. The 8-time PGA Tour champ said he hadn’t started working with his driver until last weekend, and added that he might need surgery on the hand, a problem he compounded playing ping-pong prior to the Saudi International.
Bryson DeChambeau putts on #9 during the first round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
“We didn’t play our best, obviously, but just a bit rusty,” DeChambeau said. “Obviously hit some wayward shots, just concerned — just more or less cautious, very cautious. There were some pretty good wayward shots because of that, and that probably cost me quite a bit, and then I three-putted a few times. I haven’t practiced the way I should have on the putting green for speed, and I’ll work on that after.”
In his return to action, DeChambeau knocked his first tee shot well right, rolling into a medical tent adjacent to a Torchy’s Tacos — a famous Austin-area chain. Although he hit his second shot fat and followed with a timid putt, Bland three-putted from 21 feet to halve the hole, effectively letting DeChambeau off the hook.
This script was the same on other holes — Nos. 3, 8, and 12, for example — as Bland had golden opportunities to gain an advantage after wayward shots from DeChambeau.
Although he did bury a lengthy par putt on No. 11 to halve one hole and another on No. 14 to do the same, DeChambeau was erratic throughout the round, even though he never fell behind.
Bryson DeChambeau and caddie Brian Zeigler wait on the front nine at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
And DeChambeau had a chance to win the match on the final hole, but missed a 17-foot birdie putt.
But while he was searching for parts of his golf game, DeChambeau seemed ecstatic to be back in the public eye, playfully bantering with fans and smiling as he encountered a number of interesting scenarios.
For example, on the 13th hole, DeChambeau’s ball came to rest in a sprinkler head, in a similar area to where Thomas Pieters’ had landed earlier. While Pieters was not extended relief, DeChambeau was given a drop and he smiled throughout much of the exchange. He admitted he was a little anxious about his return.
“The butterflies are always there,” he said. “To be honest I’m very happy and content with the place that I’m at right now, and I feel like I’m progressing in the right direction. There’s a lot of things that people don’t know behind the scenes that I’m very, very pleased about in a very good way. My body is healing. That’s a very positive thing that I’m happy with. Today it didn’t fail.”
Next up for DeChambeau, who has slipped to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is Lee Westwood, who is licking his wounds after a sound 3-and-2 beating at the hands of Talor Gooch on Wednesday. Pool play continues Thursday and Friday.
