Tiger Woods’s first appearance at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play since 2013 is off to a good start.
The Big Cat defeated 22-year-old Aaron Wise on the 17th hole at Austin Country Club, 3-up.
Woods was the 13th seed in the event while Wise was 61st. Tiger’s round-robin group mates include Brandt Snedeker and Patrick Cantlay.
Despite making a bogey on the first hole, Woods was in control of the match right away when Wise made an opening double-bogey. Woods went 2-up on Wise when Wise bogeyed No. 2 and Woods parred.
On the 419-yard par-4 third hole, Wise got a shot back when he parred and Woods bogeyed after hitting his drive into the left-side fairway bunker, bailing out short of the green and failing to get it up and down.
Woods went back to 2-up after Wise three-putted the 171-yard par-3 fourth hole and Woods made par.
The two players birdied Nos. 5 and 6, then matched again with pars on No. 7. Woods dropped a shot on the par-4 eighth hole when he missed the green on the left and failed to get it up and down. Wise then sunk a 15-footer for birdie on No. 9 to get back to all square at the turn.
Wise drained another birdie — this one from eight feet — on the 10th hole to take his first lead of the day.
The lead turned out to be short-lived. Tiger answered by making a sweet up-and-down on No. 11 to save par, while Wise three-putted for bogey. Just like that, the match was back to even with seven holes to play.
Woods and Wise both birdied the par-5 12th hole, then Woods picked up a shot on the 13th when Wise hit his approach into the water. Both players bogeyed the 14th and Woods went 2-up when Wise also bogeyed the 15th, while Woods parred.
Shared pars on No. 16 made Woods dormie, and Woods sealed the deal on No. 17 when he made par and Wise bogeyed. That was that, and Woods won 3-up.
If you were counting strokes today, Tiger finished at even par while Wise was three over par.
Woods’s next opponent is Brandt Snedeker. The two will face off on Thursday at 12:32 p.m. ET. Snedeker and Patrick Cantlay’s match ended in a tie on Wednesday.
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