Day holds off Dubuisson for title

bruced
February 24, 2014

It took 23 holes to determine the winner of the WGC-Accenture Match Play final and Jason Day was the man to prevail.

The Australian birdied the 23rd hole of the final to claim a one-up victory over Victor Dubuisson at Dove Mountain in Arizona and secure his second PGA Tour title in the process.

Early on Day appeared to be headed for a fairly straightforward victory as he secured a three-up lead after 12 holes, but his French opponent fought back magnificently with birdies at the 13th and 17th.

Day had his chance to win the title on the 17th, but he missed a 20-foot birdie putt and Dubuisson pulled off a brilliant par from a greenside bunker at the 18th to take things to a play-off.

Again Dubuisson got himself out of a tight spot on the 19th as his approach flew long and into the desert, but his chip shot ended just five feet away from the cup. The Frenchman was once again in trouble on the 20th hole, but he hacked out of the scrub to match Day’s par.

After both players missed mid-range putts on the next few holes, Dubuisson hit a lob about 20 feet past the cup at the par-four 15th and missed the birdie putt, and Day went on to deliver a four-footer for birdie to land the title

“I’ve never wanted something so bad in my life,” Day told CBS Sports. “Obviously I didn’t want it to go this long but Victor, he has a lot of guts and he has got a great short game. He got it straight out of a cactus twice.

“The biggest thing was just how much do I want it, how much do I want to win? I kept saying that to myself last night, kept visualising myself with the trophy. I am just glad that I could finish it off, but it was a close one.”

Day, whose previous victory came at the 2010 Byron Nelson Championship, beat Rickie Fowler 3 and 2 in the semi-final while Dubuisson was a one-up winner over Ernie Els.

The Australian also had to hold off a late fightback from Fowler to book his place in the final while Dubuisson came from three down after seven holes to beat South African Els.

In the consolation match, American Fowler needed 19 holes to beat four-time major champion Els.