Australia's quartet at the World Golf Championships Match Play in Texas have had mixed results with two wins and two losses in day one action.
Adam Scott and Lucas Herbert have had success on the opening day of the World Golf Championships Match Play in Texas but two other Australians will have to turn things around quickly after first-up losses.
Scott overcame his good friend and fellow former world No.1 Justin Rose 2-up while Herbert played some inspired golf to upset Tony Finau 4&3.
Narrowly missing out on the field of 64 as an alternate a year ago, Herbert called on his match-play experience from his younger days in Australia to take control after Finau clawed his way back to all square through seven holes.
Herbert won holes 8, 10, 12 and 15 to secure a comfortable victory in his event debut at a windy Austin Country Club.
"I got off to a hot start there which was good to put the pressure on early ... I just feel comfortable when it gets windy," Herbert said.
"I feel like my game just goes into a different kind of state that I just feel like I've got a lot of control over my golf ball in the wind ... I'm kind of licking my lips when I see it."
Scott and Englishman Rose traded the lead on the front nine before the Aussie pulled clear.
"We played a lot of golf with each other over the years and we certainly didn't have our best stuff today," Scot said.
"But obviously I'm happy to squeak out a point and kind of keep my hopes alive for the next couple days."
While Herbert and Scott will face Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley respectively knowing a win would give them a huge chance to reach the last 16, Marc Leishman and Min Woo Lee have it all to do in their next matches.
Leishman succumbed 4&3 to Kevin Kisner while defending champion Billy Horschel closed out a 3&2 win over Lee on the young gun's tournament debut.
The task doesn't get any easier for Leishman when he comes up against Justin Thomas, who was surprisingly defeated by Luke List, while Lee takes on Belgian Thomas Pieters.
In some other high-profile showdown on day one, the world's top three of Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland all won as did Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson.
Bryson DeChambeau, playing in his first event in six weeks, finished all square with England's Richard Bland while Patrick Cantlay and Keith Mitchell halved their match.
The most lopsided win was provided by Maverick McNealy, the last man into the field, who smacked Joaquin Niemann 8&6.
