After three losses on the opening day, it will be another tough day for the four South Africans at the WGC-Dell Match Play on Thursday.
Louis Oosthuizen was the only player to provide some hope for the SA public after grinding to a 1UP win over Jason Dufner. The win keeps the potential pool-deciding battle with Jason Day alive after the Australian, who beat Oosthuizen to win here in 2016, saw off James Hahn.
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Now, it’s time for Oosthuizen to match Day’s result against the American. The contest will be the eighth match out on course at Austin Country Club as the pair set out four groups after first round loser Charl Schwartzel starts his clash against Patrick Reed.
The 2011 Masters champion will need to stamp out the errors and dial in his short irons if he wants to play the role of chief disruptor as the world waits for the expected pool decider between Reed and his Ryder Cup teammate Jordan Spieth, who barely needed to flex to down Schwartzel.
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Next up will be Branden Grace. The one-time PGA TOUR winner was blown off the course by Bubba Watson’s sublime putting display and now must beat Julian Suri and Marc Leishman and hope Watson loses a match if he is to progress.
Suri surprised the pool’s top-seed Leishman and will be no pushover. The upshot for Grace is that he didn’t play badly on Wednesday despite the scoreline saying 5&3 loser. He was -2 through 14 and will look to his good match play record for encouragement in round two.
Like Grace, Frittelli needs some encouragement after going down to Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele. The debutant didn’t disgrace himself in his 1 hole loss to Schauffele but rather will rue the match as the one that got away.
Thursday will be an entirely different prospect as Sergio Garcia, who edged Shubhankar Sharma, awaits what is now a must-win clash for the two-time European Tour winner.
The South Africans are not the only players in need of victory on Thursday after Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson both lost their opening fixtures. McIlroy will play Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas and Johnson must beat Adam Hadwin if he wants to continue his defence of the title he so easily secured last year.
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Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
