RYDER Cup partners Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari renewed their love affair with match-play golf on the opening day of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Fleetwood was two down after six holes to Korea's Byeong Hun An before rallying to win 3&2 at Austin Country Club, while Molinari thrashed Satoshi Kodaira 5&4.
Fleetwood and Molinari became the first European pair to win all four of their matches together in September's Ryder Cup victory over the United States at Le Golf National, with Open champion Molinari finishing with a perfect 5-0 record.
"I've lost the first day and then won the group and I've won the first day and finished last in the group," said Fleetwood. "But it's great to have a good first day because, once you lose, you are behind the game and have to catch up.
"I had a good break around eight and nine. He had a three-putt on eight and missed a chance on nine and it kind of flipped the game around."
The wait is over. Let the madness begin. pic.twitter.com/oH8wBPwT4S
— WGC-Dell Match Play (@DellMatchPlay) March 27, 2019
READ MORE: Nick Rodger: A drugs ban, the roaring 40s and best wishes to Heather
Scotland's Russell Knox faces a daunting task to reach the semi-finals and qualify for the Masters after suffering a 3&1 defeat to Bryson DeChambeau, but Paul Casey continued his superb recent form with victory over Mexico's Abraham Ancer.
Casey, who successfully defended his title in the Valspar Championship last week, was one down after five holes but recovered to win 5&3, while Ryder Cup team-mate Alex Noren suffered a heavy defeat to China's Li Haotong.
Tiger Woods, making his first appearance in the event since 2013, was two up after five holes of a scrappy contest with Aaron Wise, with Rory McIlroy one up on Luke List after three holes.
The 64 players are split into 16 groups of four, with only the group winners advancing to the knockout stages at the weekend.
Ian Poulter looked in danger of suffering another nightmare result at the hands of Kevin Kisner when the American birdied the 15th and then holed from 60 yards for an eagle on the 16th to get back to all square.
However, Poulter birdied the last two holes to exact a measure of revenge for his 8&6 defeat to Kisner in last year's quarter-finals.
Poulter, who had been wrongly told that reaching the last eight would see him qualify for the Masters, said: "It was a different mindset last year, a little bit of a good news, bad news situation probably affected me and I didn't want that to carry over today.
"He probably realised I wasn't going to be as easy to roll over as last year. It was a good match and pivotal to birdie the 17th and get up and down on the last."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here