In R1 action out of Group 5 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, France’s Antoine Rozner (58-seed) brushed aside 5-seed Bryson DeChambeau 2 UP to take the early points-lead out of the group.
Coupled with the win and a tie between 21-seed Tommy Fleetwood and 45-seed Si Woo Kim, the 28-year-old is the front-runner and will stare down Fleetwood on Thursday. Making his PGA TOUR debut and arriving off his second European Tour title (in his last six starts) two weeks ago at the CB Qatar Masters, which got him into the field (World No. 64), the Missouri-Kansas City alum never trailed against the reigning U.S. Open champ DeChambeau. After trading hole wins at 2 and 3, Rozner took a 1 UP lead with birdie-2 at 4 (from 12'0") and never looked back. He went 2 UP thru 9 with another 12-footer for birdie-3, 3 UP thru 12 with a 2-putt birdie at the par 5, before DeChambeau battled back to 1 DOWN with a hole concession 13 and birdie win at 16, just his second birdie on the day. Now on the par-4 last, Rozner, who also won two times on the Challenge Tour in 2019, closed the SMU product out with birdie from 7'1" after a “super-high” approach up and over the trees from the right rough. “Very happy. I was trying to put a solid round of golf, and I think I did that pretty well, especially on the front. Didn’t make any mistakes really on the front, and being 3 UP after 12 holes I think was a good enough lead. I was actually feeling a little bit nervous at some point on the back nine, but I think, yeah, being 3 UP was good enough.”