64 players began play on Wednesday in the WGC-Accenture Match Play, but only one survived to collect the $1.5 million first-place check and Wedgewood trophy.
Jason Day Won
Jason Day outlasted Victor Dubuisson in a final match that took 23 holes to complete. Dubuisson was three-down at one point and battled back with miraculous saves from the desert to force Day to dig deep and finish the match.
For Day this is just his second PGA Tour win. At 26 years of age, he has been one of the top players in the game for several years and had three top-10 finishes in the majors last year.
With runner-up finishes in two of the last three years at Augusta, he has to be one of the favorites heading into the Masters.
Dubuisson Invoked Shades of Seve
Dubuisson is a 23-year-old from France, who had previously only played in four events on the PGA Tour. His ability to consistently recover from difficulty around the greens reminded golf fans of Seve Ballesteros.
The $905,000 second-place check earns Dubuisson special temporary exemption on the PGA Tour and tournament directors are lining up to entice him to play in their events.
Youth Was Served
Matteo Manassero (20), Patrick Reed (23) and Hideki Matsuyama (21) all won their first round matches before being eliminated in the second round.
Harris English (24) bested Rory McIlroy (24) in the second round before being eliminated in the third round.
Twenty-year-old Jordan Spieth made it all the way to the ‘Elite Eight’ before he was knocked out by one of the oldest men in the field 44-year-old Ernie Els.
Twenty-five-year-old Rickie Fowler was beaten in the semi-finals by the eventual winner, but defeated Els for third-place.
Dubuisson (23) and Day (26) put on a most memorable final match, which should help each player going forward.
Old Guys Can Still Play Too
Ernie Els (44) defeated Stephen Gallacher, Justin Rose, Jason Dufner and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth to earn a spot in the semi-finals, before being being beaten by 25-year-old Rickie Fowler.
Els won seven World Match Play titles in Europe and has played on several International President Cup teams.
Jim Furyk (43) beat 24-year-old Harris English in the third round before he was beaten by Rickie Fowler (25) in the quarter-finals.
WGC-Accenture is an International Event
Five of the ‘Elite Eight’ and three of the ‘Final Four’ participants in the match play were players from outside the U.S. Rickie Fowler was the lone American to make it to the final four.
He was knocked out by Day in the semi-finals, but defeated Ernie Els from South Africa in the consolation match.
The final match pitted a Frenchman, Dubuisson versus an Aussie, Day.
The WGC tournaments were devised to celebrate the international flavor of golf.
This tournament plus the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches show that the interest for golf on the international stage is strong and foreign-born players keep getting better.
Dove Mountain Proved Difficult
Dove Mountain Golf Course is a very difficult golf course to play. The fairways demand length, as well as, precision and the green complexes are diabolical.
Approach shots that missed the correct landing spot, routinely rolled off the putting surface and left players with nearly impossible 20-30 yard chip shots to save par.
It is questionable whether or not the WGC-Accenture Match Play will return to Dove Mountain, but if it doesn’t the 2013 event gave us one of the most memorable matches of all time.
Match Play Makes for Fantastic Drama
Hole outs from the bunker, eagles from the fairway and long curling putts that found the bottom of the cup are the norm for match play. The importance of each shot in match play seems to be magnified as each hole constitutes a mini-tournament.
Whether or not the match play event returns to Dove Mountain or moves to another venue, golf fans enjoy this annual match play format.
It needs to be a part of the PGA Tour schedule every year.