World No 1 Rahm starts off well at WGC Match Play

World number one Jon Rahm got off to a smooth start at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament in Texas on Wednesday, romping to a convincing victory over Colombia's Sebastian Munoz.

Rahm, looking to build some Masters momentum at this week's tournament at Austin Country Club in Texas, recovered from an early deficit to post a 4&2 victory.

Munoz had taken the early lead, going one up with a birdie at the par-four third hole, before Rahm hit back immediately with a birdie of his own on the fourth.

The Colombian then pulled away with a birdie on the 12th before rolling in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 13th to go three up. A birdie on the 16th clinched victory.

"It's a good round," Rahm said. "It's not stress free, but maybe organized. I didn't make many mistakes... overall a good round of golf."

The 64-strong field for this week's tournament is divided into 16 groups of four players for the round robin phase, with each player winning one point for a match victory, half a point for a tie and zero for a loss.

The 16 group winners advance to Saturday's straight knockout rounds.

In other early round games, second seed Collin Morikawa got off the mark with a 2&1 win over Scotland's Robert MacIntyre.

World number two Morikawa was unhappy with his form but ultimately relieved to escape with a win.

"It was a weird, weird day," Morikawa said. "I felt like I started off really well...then I just made so many unforced errors.

"Sometimes you just get lucky and that's what's great about this format - you can make a bad score, get away with it and move on."

Players that won today