Rahm starts off well at WGC Match Play
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Jon Rahm romped to a convincing victory over Colombia's Sebastian Munoz.
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - World number one Jon Rahm got off to a smooth start at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament in Texas on Wednesday, romping to a convincing victory over Colombia s Sebastian Munoz.
Rahm, looking to build some Masters momentum at this week s tournament at Austin Country Club in Texas, recovered from an early deficit to post a 4&2 victory.
Munoz had taken the early lead, going one up with a birdie at the par-four third hole, before Rahm hit back immediately with a birdie of his own on the fourth.
The Colombian then pulled away with a birdie on the 12th before rolling in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 13th to go three up. A birdie on the 16th clinched victory.
"It s a good round," Rahm said. "It s not stress free, but maybe organized. I didn t make many mistakes...overall a good round of golf."
The 64-strong field for this week s tournament is divided into 16 groups of four players for the round robin phase, with each player winning one point for a match victory, half a point for a tie and zero for a loss.
The 16 group winners advance to Saturday s straight knockout rounds.
In other early round games, second seed Collin Morikawa got off the mark with a 2&1 win over Scotland s Robert MacIntyre.
World number two Morikawa was unhappy with his form but ultimately relieved to escape with a win.
"It was a weird, weird day," Morikawa said. "I felt like I started off really well...then I just made so many unforced errors.
"Sometimes you just get lucky and that s what s great about this format - you can make a bad score, get away with it and move on."
Third seed Viktor Hovland meanwhile left it late before overcoming Austria s Sepp Straka.
Straka was one up heading to the 16th, but a birdie four for Hovland tied it up.
Straka then posted a bogey six on the 17th to leave Hovland ahead before holding on to win.
Play went largely to form across Wednesday s opening games, with only one of the top 10 seeds - Justin Thomas - suffering defeat. Sixth seed Thomas was beaten 3&2 by Luke List, the 53rd seed.
Patrick Cantlay, seeded four, tied against Keith Mitchell, along with Bryson DeChambeau who returned from injury to tie his game against England s Richard Bland.
DeChambeau, who has not not played since early February due to a wrist problem, admitted he was still getting used to playing again after an extended layoff.
"There was a lot of drives out there I felt really bad because it s not going the place I want it to go just because I m not confident with how my wrist will go through it," the big-hitting American said.
"That will get ironed out over time. A little bit of nerves will calm that down and just get comfortable playing golf again."
Fifth seed Scottie Scheffler was a 2&1 winner over England s Ian Poulter, the American edging home after birdies on the 15th and 17th holes.
Elsewhere, Justin Rose posted a hole-in-one in his duel with Australia s Adam Scott but it was not enough to prevent a defeat.
Rose s ace came on the par-three 17th after his tee-shot had landed out of bounds.
His second attempt off the tee rolled into the cup for a par, which left him one down heading to the 18th.
But the Englishman bogeyed the last and Scott parred to secure a two up victory.
