World number one Dustin Johnson and in-form Rory McIlroy suffered shock losses as the World Golf Championship Dell Technologies Match Play opened with a string of uspets on Wednesday.
Defending champion Johnson was spent spinning to a 3 & 1 defeat in his opening group game against Austria's Bernd Wiesberger, the world number 56, who is seeded 52nd for this week's tournament at the Austin Country Club in Texas.
Meanwhile McIlroy, who signaled his return to form on Sunday with a sensational victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, came back to Earth with a thud in his Group Six clash with Peter Uihlein.
Uihlein, the 57th seed, took control of the match over the front nine, notching three early birdies to reach the turn at 4-up.
A further birdie on the 10th took him 5 up, and although McIlroy staged a superb late rally with five straight birdies to trim Uihlein's lead to two heading to the 17th, the 28-year-old held on to claim a 2 & 1 win.
Uihlein later said he was relieved to have held off McIlroy's charge after the turn.
"It's very difficult -- he turned it on late. I felt that if I kept trying to give myself a chance I could get it done," Uihlein said.
"You can't really control what he's going to do. It was like a boxing match -- if you land a couple of jabs you assume he's going to land one eventually. But I was able to hold him off, which was nice."
- Putter rage -
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