Emotions, surprises as Match Play opens

Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay thrust their fists in celebration with birdies on the final hole to win, the kind of emotions typical for a final round. In the Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin, every day can feel like Sunday.

The opening round of group play Wednesday featured 16 of the 32 matches going the distance, Rory Mcilroy suffering his worst loss in 10 years and some of the best moments belonging to newcomers to this fickle event.

That starts with Antoine Rozner, the 28-year-old from Paris who only got into this World Golf Championship by winning the Qatar Masters two weeks ago.

Clinging to a one-shot lead over U.S. Open champion Bryson Dechambeau, a tree blocking the 54 yards that separated him from the flag, Rozner hit a bold flop shot that settled 8 feet behind the hole. Finishing with a flair, the Frenchman holed the putt for a 2-up victory over Dechambeau.

Next up was Bob Macintyre of Scotland, dropping two eagles over the final five holes in a 2-and-1 victory over Kevin Na.

Mcilroy was so discouraged walking off after 13 holes that he declined to talk about his match for the second straight time in this event. The previous occasion was in 2019 when he lost to Tiger Woods in the knockout stage on the weekend.

Justin Thomas (2) joined Dechambeau (5) as the top seeds who lost their opening matches. Collin Morikawa (4), Xander Schauffele (6), Patrick Reed (7) and Tyrrell Hatton (8) had to settle for ties.

Thomas fell 5 down to Matt Kuchar on the front nine, too big a hole from which he could rally.

Kevin Kisner, the defending champion from 2019 — won his seventh straight match by beating Louis Oosthuizen.

Dustin Johnson, the top seed, closed out Adam Long on the 18th hole.

“Winning your first match definitely helps,” Johnson said. “But you've still got to go pretty much win all three matches if you want to advance.”