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Back from hip and hand injuries, DeChambeau hit a driver on the
par-4 first hole at Austin (Texas) Country Club and knocked the
ball into a medical tent to the right of the fairway. He would
up making bogey, but since Bland also bogeyed, they halved the
hole.
DeChambeau was 1 up at the turn, but the ninth-seeded American
bogeyed the 10th hole while Bland made par to level the match.
The players carded identical scores over the final eight holes
to end tied.
"We didn't play our best, obviously, but just a bit rusty,"
DeChambeau said. "Obviously hit some wayward shots, just
concerned -- just more or less cautious, very cautious. There
were some pretty good wayward shots because of that, and that
probably cost me quite a bit, and then I three-putted a few
times.
"I haven't practiced the way I should have on the putting green
for speed, and I'll work on that after."
The result leaves DeChambeau and Bland trailing Talor Gooch in
Group 9 after Gooch beat England's Lee Westwood 3 and 2.
DeChambeau withdrew from his most recent event, the Saudi
International in early February. His previous PGA Tour
appearance came at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January.
The 64-player field consists of 16 groups competing in
round-robin play over the first three days of the event, with
players awarded one point for a win and a half point for a tie.
The player with the most points in each group advances to the
Round of 16, with ties broken by a sudden-death playoff.
Saturday and Sunday will feature single-elimination,
head-to-head matches.
The tournament's top three seeds -- in order, Spain's Jon Rahm,
the United States' Collin Morikawa and Norway's Viktor Hovland
-- all won their group-stage openers.
Rahm routed Colombia's Sebastian Munoz 4-2. Morikawa topped
Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, and Hovland edged Austria's Sepp
Straka 1 up.
Americans occupy the fourth through ninth seeds, and all won
except for No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, who drew with countryman Keith
Mitchell, and No. 6 Justin Thomas, who lost to American Luke
List 3 and 2. No. 5 Scottie Scheffler defeated England's Ian
Poulter 2 and 1, No. 7 Xander Schauffele beat Japan's Takumi
Kanaya 3 and 2, and No. 8 Dustin Johnson downed Canada's
Mackenzie Hughes 3 and 2.
The most lopsided win of the day came from 14th-seeded Joaquin
Niemann of Chile, who demolished the United States' Maverick
McNealy 8 and 6.
Defending champion Billy Horschel of the United States posted a
3-and-2 victory over Australia's Min Woo Lee.
--Field Level Media
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