AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Latest on the Dell Technologies Match Play (all times local):
2:15 p.m.
Ian Poulter faced Kevin Kisner in consecutive matches separated by one painful year at the Match Play.
Poulter needed to win his quarterfinal match last year against Kisner to be assured a spot in the Masters, and it wasn’t even close. Kisner beat him, 8 and 6, the worse loss Poulter ever suffered.
They squared off in the opening round Wednesday, and Poulter got a small measure of revenge. Kisner didn’t make it easy on him, holing out with wedge for eagle to tie the match through 16 holes. Poulter answered with a 10-foot birdie putt, and he closed out a 2-up win with another birdie on the 18th.
“I wasn’t going to roll over like last year,” Poulter says.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, won his first two holes against Aaron Wise and was 2 up through six holes.
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1:45 p.m.
Tommy Fleetwood of England is among the early winners in the Dell Technologies Match Play after seizing momentum around the turn to beat Byeong Hun An.
Fleetwood was happy, even though he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Fleetwood is among eight players who have lost their opening match and still won the group. Two years ago, he won his opening match and wound up last in his group.
So it’s on to Thursday, where his next match is critical at Austin Country Club. He plays Kyle Stanley, who beat Louis Oosthuizen.
Other early winners include Bryson DeChambeau, who scored a tedious win over Russell Knox. Their match was so far behind that they twice had an entire par 5 open ahead of them.
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9:15 a.m.
The 64 players at the Dell Technologies Match Play are guaranteed at least three matches. That doesn’t take away the sense of urgency to win the opening match Wednesday at Austin Country Club.
This is the fifth year of group play. One player from each of the 16 groups advances to the knockout stages on the weekend.
But only eight players have ever lost an opening match and won their group, which makes the first session more imperative than it might seem.
Tiger Woods has never played this format. He won his three Match Play titles when it was single elimination from the start. Woods, who last played this World Golf Championship in 2013, faces Aaron Wise in the afternoon.
In other matches, Phil Mickelson plays Henrik Stenson.
