That didn’t take long.
There’s a good reason golf has gone to pseudo-match play at the WGC event in Austin.
Wednesday produced a couple of eye-opening upsets and right there one of them was first overall seed Dustin Johnson.
Last year D.J. ran roughshod through the field, never trailing in a match on his way to the championship duel with Jon Rahm. He won that match as well and took the title.
On day one, D.J. tasted immediate defeat at the hands of Bernd Wiesberger, who is the equivalent of the 52nd seed. The Austrian star won 3-and-1, no problem.
Likewise, Rory McIlroy appeared to be suffering from a Bay Hill hangover until late in his match with Peter Uihlein. Uihlein steam-rolled his way to a five-up lead after 10 holes then withstood a late five-birdie run by McIlroy to win 2-and-1.
Rahm was no ball of fire either. All he could salvage was a halve in his match with Chez Reavie.
Phil Mickelson bit the dust at Austin Country Club, losing to Charles Howell III.
In another upset, Europe’s No. 1, Tommy Fleetwood, was beaten by countryman Ian Poulter.
In real match play, that would have been a lot of stars exiting early but in this “group play” stuff, they continue to jockey for position and a spot in the actual elimination matches.
