WORLD NUMBER ONE Jon Rahm was drawn on Monday into a first-round group with Masters winner Patrick Reed for the WGC Match Play Championship that begins Wednesday in Austin, Texas, while Irish stars Seamus Power and Shane Lowry also discovered their fate.
Rahm, the reigning US Open champion from Spain, and Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, were paired with Colombian Sebastian Munoz and US rookie Cameron Young, a runner-up last month at Riviera, in the round-robin stage of the event at Austin Country Club.
Reed is known for his match-play success in the Ryder Cup, earning the nickname “Captain America” for his flamboyant style in the wake of cheers and hecklers at the event.
A 64-player field based upon world rankings is divided into 16 groups of four players for round-robin matches Wednesday through Friday with group winners reaching weekend knockout rounds.
Defending champion Billy Horschel, seeded 12th, has a group with Australian Min Woo Lee, the reigning Scottish Open champion; Belgium’s Tom Pieters, a January winner at Abu Dhabi, and American Tom Hoge, who won last month at Pebble Beach.
World number two Collin Morikawa was grouped with fellow American Jason Kokrak, Scotsman Robert McIntyre and Spain’s Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion.
Norway’s third-ranked Viktor Hovland was drawn with Austrian Sepp Straka and Americans Will Zalatoris and Cameron Tringale.
Fourth seed Patrick Cantlay will be joined by fellow American Keith Mitchell, South Korean Im Sung-jae and Power.
US fifth seed Scottie Scheffler was grouped with three Englishmen: Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Ian Poulter, the 2010 Match Play winner.
Morikawa, Scheffler, Cantlay and Hovland all have a chance to topple Rahm from atop the rankings this week.
World number seven Justin Thomas is grouped with 2019 match-play winner Kevin Kisner and another compatriot, 2022 Torrey Pines winner Luke List, plus Australian Marc Leishman, who is unbeaten in Presidents Cup singles.
Reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and fellow American Tony Finau are in group seven with Japan’s Takumi Kanaya and Australian Lucas Herbert.
Four major champions are together in group 11: Americans Keegan Bradley and Jordan Spieth, Australian Adam Scott and England’s Justin Rose.
Dustin Johnson, a two-time major winner and 2017 match-play winner, is joined in group eight by fellow Americans Matthew Wolff and Max Homa and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes.
Ninth-seeded Bryson DeChambeau is joined by fellow American Talor Gooch and England’s Lee Westwood and Richard Bland.
In addition, Brooks Koepka, Harold Varner III and Erik van Rooyen are in Lowry’s group.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy won’t compete after he opted to skip the event.
A new episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness, is out now. After Ireland’s Triple Crown win, Murray Kinsella gives us the rundown on his team of the tournament. Ireland international Sene Naoupu also joins the panel to chat about her career and look ahead to the start of the Women’s Six Nations. Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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