World number two Rory McIlroy and USA’s Jordan Spieth both face an uphill task to make the last 16, after losing the opening day of the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play in Austin.
McIlroy suffered a 2&1 defeat against Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, while Japan’s Hideto Tanihara claimed an impressive 4&2 win over Spieth.
The Northern Irishman, who won the event in 2015, was on the wrong side of Kjeldsen’s late charge, who stormed to victory after being 1 down with five to play. The cure? Four straight birdies after hitting his last four approach shots inside nine feet, with the last three inside four feet. McIlroy looked on course for an opening win despite being 2 down after 10, but was unable to get it going on the greens just as Kjeldsen turned it on.
‘I played well. If I had played anyone else, I might have won. Soren played great. I think I have to give him credit. He played really, really well from the first hole,’ said McIlroy, who next faces Gary Woodland. Woodland beat Emiliano Grillo 3&2.
‘I felt good coming into today,’ Kjeldsen said. ‘He’s a pretty spectacular player, so you don’t want to watch him too much.
‘I knew I had to play well to have any kind of a chance, so I didn’t look at what Rory was doing and fortunately I played well,’ added Kjeldsen.
‘Everyone I’m playing this week, I’m going to be the underdog,’ said Kjeldsen, who entered the week one of the highest ranked players.
‘It’s nice. I haven’t had the best start to the season in America. But the last few weeks I’ve been getting better. I feel good. You can talk about match play, but at the end of the day you need to shoot good scores and that’s what I did today.’
Spieth was downed by Tanihara, who is making his first start at the event.
Tanihara took a 1-up lead after 7 holes with a 15-foot birdie, and then won the 10th hole when he nearly jarred his approach shot. He would go on to win three of the next six holes. Spieth, who struggled for much of the match, birdied the opening hole – and couldn’t manage another birdie after that.
