It’s on and Tiger Woods finally came back to match play and won on Wednesday despite some so-so play.
Woods called it “one of the more emotional matches” at the WGC Match Play as he managed to take a 3-and-1 win from young Aaron Wise on Wednesday at Austin Country Club.
“A lot of ebb and flow. It’s not like we were both playing good golf,” Woods said afterward. “We were both struggling a little bit. If it was stroke play, we’d both be pretty far behind.”
Instead, Woods is 1-0 in his group with time to improve.
Phil Mickelson wasn’t as fortunate. He lost 2-and-1 to Henrik Stenson, the man who beat him for the 2016 Open Championship at Troon when the two were paired the final round.
Biggest upset of the day went to Lucas Bjerregaard who stunned Justin Thomas, 3-and-2 in their match. Jim Furyk overcame an early three-up lead by Jason Day and emerged with a 2-up win in a mild upset.
Rory McIlroy was firing on all cylinders and walked all over Luke List, 5-and-4. “I think it was a combination of I rode my luck a little bit,” McIlroy said. “To birdie 13 and 14 to close it out was nice.”
Kevin Na surprised defending champion Bubba Watson, stunning the defending champion, 1-up. “A great comeback,” Na pointed out. “Any time you beat a two-time Masters champion — it’s a great day.”
Dustin Johnson, the top-seed in the tournament, had no trouble disposing of Chez Reavie, 4-and-3 in their match.
The most lopsided match of the day saw Jon Rahm squash Si Woo Kim, 7-and-5.
