Defending
champion Hunter Mahan lost his crown Sunday in the final of the WGC Accenture
Match Play Championship, he was beaten by his fellow American Matt Kuchar.
34 year
old Matt Kuchar won his first World Golf Championship even and 5th
PGA Tour title of his career.
Kuchar
defied the windy conditions in Arizona to produce a consistent display in the
final that was ultimately too much for Hunter Mahan.
The duo
halved the opening three holes in par, but the previously unflappable Mahan
then rather came unstuck with bogeys at four, five and six to fall three
behind.
After
losing the fourth hole, Mahan found
himself behind in the event for the
first time since last year's first round clash with Zach Johnson, a total of
169 consecutive holes.
Things went
from bad to worse as Kuchar made a birdie at the eighth after a fine
up-and-down to move four clear as he reached the turn in just 35 strokes.
Mahan
clawed back a little as he won the tenth
and 11th holes with a par and a birdie to halve the deficit, but Kuchar responded
with a birdie at 13 after yet another
stunning piece of scrambling around the green to restore the lead to three.
Mahan then won the 14th with a wonderful
approach to a matter of inches, before Kuchar mis fired his tee-shot at the par-three 16th into the
grandstands behind the green, allowing his opponent to reduce the lead to just
one.
But apart
from that , Kuchar sealed victory at the 17th with a brilliant second from a
fairway bunker that forced his rival into a concession after he had strayed
into the desert with his approach from the same sandtrap.
"I've
really got to give Hunter a lot of credit, he got off to a slow start and I got
up pretty quickly... but Hunter made a great battle and played some great golf
coming in," Kuchar stated afterwards.
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