With two more wins, Jason Day crowned WGC-Dell Match Play champ
Jason Day had himself a Jason Week at the WGC-Dell Match Play.
Day completed an undefeated week at Austin Country Club on Sunday, first beating Rory McIlroy 1 up in the marquee matchup of the day, then easily dispatching of Louis Oosthuizen in the final by a 5-and-4 count for his second PGA Tour win in as many weeks.
The Aussie, who has now officially overtaken Jordan Spieth for the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, won the three matches he played in round-robin group play. He tweaked his back on the penultimate hole of his Day 1 win over Graeme McDowell. There was some doubt if he’d play Thongchai Jaidee on Day 2 before walloping him by a 5-and-3 margin, including starting with a 370-yard drive that led to an eagle. Paul Casey conceded the Friday match to Day when he realized it was better to withdraw and deal with his stomach bug than keep fighting Day.
“I just kept on rolling from last week,” Day said. “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.”
On Saturday, Day never trailed in his Round of 16 match against Brandt Snedeker and fell behind Brooks Koepka for just one hole in the quarterfinal round.
That all set up a showdown with McIlroy, the defending champion from a year ago at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The match went the distance, with the crucial stretch coming for Day with back-to-back birdies for wins on Nos. 12 and 13 to turn an all square match into a sustained advantage.
It seemed like after beating McIlroy that Day would either have little in the tank or beat Oosthuizen, who toppled Rafael Cabrera-Bello in his semifinal match, in a walkover. It was the latter.
After a three-putt bogey on the first — his only bogey there in seven matches this week — Day squared the match on the fourth thanks to Oosthuizen blunders. Day never looked back, turning with a 3-up edge that seemed airtight. Four holes later, Day overpowered the 13th and 14th holes for birdies and the finishing touches on a week where he was clearly the class player in the field.
It should also be noted that Day clearly has found a course designer he loves in Pete Dye. He won the PGA Championship in August at Dye’s Whistling Straits. He fell in love with Dye’s Austin Country Club, fighting sight lines off the tee that allowed him to be extremely aggressive with the driver to set up his short game that is a go-to part of his repertoire.
“When you have the short game on, especially around here, you can definitely go low,” he said. “I’ve been working very hard on that short game and on the greens I just felt like I could hole anything.”
Now Day heads into the Masters looking for a second major title in a row, a third win in as many starts and with the hopes of sustaining himself atop the top spot in the world ranking.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf ball maker Dean Snell of Snell Golf
