Jason Day of Australia guaranteed he would return to No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings on Monday with his victory in the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play on Saturday.
On Sunday, he validated the move.
Day slipped past defending champion Rory McIlroy on the final hole for a 1-up victory in the semifinals before routing Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, 5 and 4, to win the tournament for the second time in three years at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas.
“I just kept on rolling from last week,” said Day, who was coming off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “And even with a sore back this week, obviously it gradually got better and better, but I’m just really, really pleased with how I played.
” … I really enjoy this golf course. It was such a pleasure to play here. I’ve never been here before. And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Austin. But just set up so beautifully, it didn’t matter where the wind was coming, because we had southerly and northerly winds. And when you have the short game on, especially around here, you can definitely go low.
“I’ve been working very hard on that short game and on the greens I just felt like I could hole anything.”
Day joined Tiger Woods (2003, 2004, 2008) and Geoff Ogilvy of Australia (2006, 2009) as the only players to win the tournament more than once.
Oostuizen, who eliminated then No. l-ranked Jordan Spieth in the quarterfinals, defeated Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain in the other semifinal, 4 and 3, and the Spaniard knocked off McIlroy in the consolation match, 3 and 2.
Day sank a downhill 13-foot par putt on the 18th hole to claim his victory over McIlroy, who was 11-0-1 in his previous 12 matches in the tournament, which he won last year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
That came after the Aussie lipped out three earlier putts that would have ended the match.
The match was all square through 11 holes, but Day won the next two with birdies to take control. McIlroy sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the 14th, but couldn’t catch up down the stretch.
“I thought overall it was a good match,” said McIlroy, who will make his second bid for the Career Grand Slam in 10 days at the Masters. “I did miss a couple of opportunities on the front side.
“Jason played very, very well. I think he made one mistake on the second hole today, and apart from that I don’t think there were any dropped shots between us. Good quality match. He got off to a great start. I didn’t birdie 12 or 13. That was probably, I feel, what cost me the match. And then from there I was really just battling back.”
Day made a bogey to lose the first hole against Oosthuizen, but won the third and fourth holes to take the lead for good, as the South African did not win another hole. The Aussie wrapped it up with birdie putts of six and three feet on the last two holes and had a total of five birdies in 14 holes.
Oosthuizen, who reached the quarterfinals in the WGC-Match Play each of the last two years, birdied the first hole and never trailed in his semifinal against Cabrera Bello, who didn’t make a single birdie.
The consolation match was even after 10 holes, but Cabrera Bello won four of the last six holes, three with birdies. McIlroy missed three putts inside six feet, including a five-footer on the 15th to end the match.
