Incredibly, defending champion Dustin Johnson has been eliminated after the first two rounds of group play in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas.
Adam Hadwin of Canada, seeded No. 38, eliminated the top-seeded Johnson (pictured), 4 and 3, leaving DJ with a meaningless match, for him, against No. 32 Kevin Kisner on Friday.
“I played extremely solid all day, obviously. I made the putts when I needed to keep the momentum on my side,” said Hadwin, who is tied for the lead in Group 1 with Kisner heading to a match against Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, who beat Johnson in the first round and now will play Hadwin.
“I expected Dustin to play a lot better than he did, I think everybody did. But I played really solid, steady golf. The way I played, I knew it was going to be a good match until the end.”
Kisner beat No. 52 Wiesberger, 5 and 4, after halving his opening match with Hadwin.
In another big upset, No. 43 Chez Reavie knocked third-seeded Jon Rahm out of contention with a 1-up victory.
No. 28 Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand, who beat Reavie in round one, took control of Group 3 at 2-0 with a 1-up victory over No. 63 Keegan Bradley.
No. 46 Cameron Smith of Australia took charge of Group 5 at 2-0 with a 1-up victory over fifth-seeded Hideki Matsuyama of Japan. Smith will move on with a win or a tie against No. 53 Yusaku Miyazato of Japan.
No. 6 Rory McIlroy bounced back from being upset in the first round by No. 57 Peter Uihlein by defeating beat No. 44 Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, 2 and 1. No. 18 Brian Harman went to 2-0 with a 3-and-2 victory over Uihlein and will play McIlroy in the third round.
“At least I’ve given myself a chance to progress,” McIlroy said.
No. 2 Justin Thomas went to 2-0 with a 3-and-1 victory over No. 48 Patton Kizzire and will win Group 2 with a win or a tie against No. 21 Francesco Molinari of Italy, who also won his second straight match, beating No. 60 Luke List, 2 and 1.
No. 4 Jordan Spieth and No. 19 Patrick Reed both won their second straight matches and will play for the title in Group 4. Spieth downed No. 34 Haotong Li of China, while Reed hit the pin with his approach on the last hole that gave him a tap-in birdie to beat No. 49 Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, 1 up.
Seventh-seeded Sergio Garcia and No. 20 Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State both went to 2-0 and will play for the title in Group 7. Garcia beat No. 41 Dylan Fritelli of South Africa, 2 up, and Schauffele defeated No. 62 Shubankar Sharma of India, 3 and 1.
No. 58 Ian Poulter of England took command of Group 9 by defeating No. 26 Daniel Berger, 2 and 1, and will move on with a win or tie over No. 33 Kevin Chappell, who lost to No. 9 Tommy Fleetwood of England, both at 1-1.
Tenth-seeded Paul Casey of England won his second straight match in Group 10 by downing No. 45 Kyle Stanley, 4 and 2. Casey will advance to the Round of 16 with a win or halve against No. 31 Matthew Fitzpatrick.
Other players who are 2-0 include No. 11 Bubba Watson, No. 12 Tyrrell Hatton of England, No. 13 Alex Noren of Sweden and No. 59 Charles Howell in Group 14.
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