Jason Day outlasts Victor Dubuisson in epic Match Play Championship final

MARANA, Ariz. — Jason Day never stopped believing he would win the Match Play Championship, even in the midst of so many shots by Victor Dubuisson that simply defied belief.

With his ball at the base of a cactus, Dubuisson took an all-or-nothing swing though the sharp needles and a TV cable and incredibly hit it to 4 feet to save par. Seemingly out of it on the next playoff hole, the 23-year-old Frenchman somehow whacked a wedge through a desert bush and rocks and onto the green for another par.

Day finally ended the madness Sunday on the 23rd hole with a pitch to 4 feet on No. 15 for birdie.

It was the first time the championship match went overtime since the inaugural year in 1999 at La Costa, when Jeff Maggert chipped on the second extra hole of a 36-hole final. That was like watching paint dry compared to the show Dubuisson put on.

“Those two shots were amazing,” Dubuisson said. “I just played it like I had nothing to lose.”

Day, with his first World Golf Championship, walked away with his second PGA Tour title that will take the Australian to No. 4 in the world.

This tournament might better be remembered for Dubuisson’s magical escapes.

“Vic, man, he has a lot of guts,” Day said. “He has a great short game – straight out of the cactus twice. For a 23-year-old kid, he’s got a lot of game. We’re going to see a lot of him for years to come.”

Two holes down with two holes to play, Dubuisson rapped in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and then took advantage of a rare lapse by Day, who bogeyed the 18th hole with a three-putt from 50 feet on the upper tier. The Frenchman saved par from the bunker to force extra holes.

It looked like it would be over
quickly.

From the first fairway, Dubuisson went so far long that bounced hard off the back of the green and into the desert, the ball nestled at the base of a cholla. During regulation, he would have taken a penalty drop. In this case, he felt he had no choice. He stepped up to the ball and, with nothing to lose, swung away. The club got caught on a TV cable, and the ball scooted up the slope of 3-inch grass and onto the green.

On the next extra hole, the par-5 ninth, Dubuisson tugged his shot left of the green, left of the bleachers and into a desert bush surrounded by rocks. He took another crack at it, and the shot came out perfectly through thick grass and onto the green.

“I kept shaking my head because there was a couple of times there where I thought he was absolutely dead – the tournament was mine,” Day said.

It was – eventually.

After matching bogeys and pars on the next two holes – this time from the green grass – the match ended on the 333-yard 15th hole when Dubuisson’s drive strayed too far right into side of a hill, leaving him an awkward pitch.

“I’m disappointed because I made some terrible shots,” Dubuisson said, ignoring the two that were as close to a miracle as golf allows.

LPGA TOUR: In Chonburi, Thailand, Anna Nordqvist won the LPGA Thailand to end a five-year victory drought, holding off top-ranked Inbee Park at Siam County Club.

Nordqvist, the LPGA Championship and LPGA Tour Championship winner in 2009, led wire-to-wire. The 26-year-old Swede closed with 4-under 68 to beat defending champion Park by two strokes.

Nordqvist finished at 15-under 273 on the Pattaya Old Course. Park, making her first start of the year, had a bogey-free 66.

The South Korean player won six times last year.