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AFP (Los Angeles): Australian Jason Day celebrated his return to world number one with his second WGC Match Play crown on Sunday (27), beating Louis Oosthuizen 5 and 4 in the title match.
Day, was assured of regaining the world number one ranking on Saturday when he reached the semi-finals as American Jordan Spieth was eliminated in the round of 16.
And on Sunday, five days after fearing a bad back might force him out after his opening match on Wednesday, Day completed an unbeaten week at Austin Country Club in Texas with a gritty 1 up semi-final win over defending champion Rory McIlroy followed by his victory over Oosthuizen.
“To be able to play the way I did from tee to green and then on top of it make tough matches and hit the clutch shots has been fantastic,” said Day, who arrived in Austin off a win last Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill.
Day joined Tiger Woods and fellow Australian Geoff Ogilvy as multiple Match Play winners. He won his first title in 2014 in Arizona before the tournament adopted its current round-robin format for the first three days.
Third-seeded McIlroy, denied a chance to join Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the event, then was beaten 3 and 2 in the consolation final by 52nd-seeded Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello.
Oosthuizen, the 16th seed, had beaten Cabrera Bello 4 and 3 in the semis, but he was no match for the second seeded Day in the final.
“I’m very, very thrilled. It’s been a memorable week this week not only to win the Dell Match Play Championship but also to get back to number one in the world,” Day said.
He said the see-saw battle with McIlroy in the semi-final was nerve-wracking, but he drained a 13-foot par putt to halve the final hole and seal the victory.
McIlroy called it a “good quality match”. “I did miss a couple of opportunities on the front side,” McIlroy said. “He got off to a great start. I didn’t birdie 12 or 13, that was probably, I feel, what cost me the match. From there I was really just battling back.”
Day, who confirmed his status as a Masters favorite with the first major of the year coming up in two weeks at Augusta National, said the same sharp short game that carried him to victory at Bay Hill was key in Austin.
