Kuchar dethrones Mahan at Match Play
Source: Agencies |
February 26, 2013, Tuesday
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MATT Kuchar finally put Hunter Mahan in a hole and then answered every challenge on Sunday to win the Match Play Championship.
Mahan had gone 169 holes over 11 matches without trailing in this tournament until Kuchar won the fourth hole of their championship match with a par, and Mahan never caught up. Kuchar took advantage of a series of miscues to build a 4-up lead at the turn, and then held off a noble challenge by the defending champion in Marana, Arizona.
There was never a dull moment on the back nine. Only two holes were halved, and those were with birdies.
But for all the great shots, the match ended when Mahan went from a tough lie in the bunker to a bush in the desert, and it took him four shots to reach the 17th green. Kuchar wound up winning, 2 and 1, when Mahan removed the stocking cap he used to fight the cold desert air at Dove Mountain and conceded Kuchar a short birdie putt.
It was the first World Golf Championship title for Kuchar, and it follows a year in which he won The Players Championship. Kuchar became the second player in the past three years to win a Match Play Championship without ever playing the 18th hole.
"It seems like each hole there's so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole," Kuchar said. "To come out on top after six matches of playing the top 64 guys in the world, it's an incredible feeling."
Mahan was trying to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners, and he gave it a good shot despite the big deficit halfway through the match.
"Just had a bad stretch against Matt on the front nine there that put me just a little bit too far behind," Mahan said.
Kuchar polished off Jason Day of Australia in the semifinals on Saturday morning, 4 and 3.
Mahan hit a series of remarkable wedge shots in beating Briton Ian Poulter, 4 and 3, in his semifinal. He twice hit difficult chips inside 5 feet to win holes, and then seized control with a chip-in from about 70 feet on the 12th hole to take command.
Day defeated Poulter in the consolation match, 1 up.
It was the first all-American final in five years at the Match Play Championship, and Kuchar's win gave the Americans a clean sweep of the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing for the second straight year.
He moves to No. 8 in the world and picked up US$1.5 million, and now has earned just over US$3.2 million from his last two wins.
Kuchar and Woods are the only former US Amateur champions to win the Match Play Championship. Kuchar won the Amateur in 1997, the year after Woods turned pro.
Mahan had gone 169 holes over 11 matches without trailing in this tournament until Kuchar won the fourth hole of their championship match with a par, and Mahan never caught up. Kuchar took advantage of a series of miscues to build a 4-up lead at the turn, and then held off a noble challenge by the defending champion in Marana, Arizona.
There was never a dull moment on the back nine. Only two holes were halved, and those were with birdies.
But for all the great shots, the match ended when Mahan went from a tough lie in the bunker to a bush in the desert, and it took him four shots to reach the 17th green. Kuchar wound up winning, 2 and 1, when Mahan removed the stocking cap he used to fight the cold desert air at Dove Mountain and conceded Kuchar a short birdie putt.
It was the first World Golf Championship title for Kuchar, and it follows a year in which he won The Players Championship. Kuchar became the second player in the past three years to win a Match Play Championship without ever playing the 18th hole.
"It seems like each hole there's so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole," Kuchar said. "To come out on top after six matches of playing the top 64 guys in the world, it's an incredible feeling."
Mahan was trying to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners, and he gave it a good shot despite the big deficit halfway through the match.
"Just had a bad stretch against Matt on the front nine there that put me just a little bit too far behind," Mahan said.
Kuchar polished off Jason Day of Australia in the semifinals on Saturday morning, 4 and 3.
Mahan hit a series of remarkable wedge shots in beating Briton Ian Poulter, 4 and 3, in his semifinal. He twice hit difficult chips inside 5 feet to win holes, and then seized control with a chip-in from about 70 feet on the 12th hole to take command.
Day defeated Poulter in the consolation match, 1 up.
It was the first all-American final in five years at the Match Play Championship, and Kuchar's win gave the Americans a clean sweep of the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing for the second straight year.
He moves to No. 8 in the world and picked up US$1.5 million, and now has earned just over US$3.2 million from his last two wins.
Kuchar and Woods are the only former US Amateur champions to win the Match Play Championship. Kuchar won the Amateur in 1997, the year after Woods turned pro.
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