دار الخليج

Burns scorches young to claim Match play final, Boutier prevails

Burns took a $3.5 million top prize at Austin Country Club in Texas by making eight birdies in the last 10 holes to dispatch 17th-ranked Young, last year’s British Open runner-up

Sam Burns captured the biggest title of his career by winning the WGC Match Play Championship on Sunday, routing Cameron Young 6&5 in an all-american final.

World number 15 Burns took a $3.5 million top prize at Austin Country Club in Texas by making eight birdies in the last 10 holes to dispatch 17thranked Young, last year’s British Open runner-up.

Burns dethroned top-ranked defending champion Scotie Scheffler in 21 holes in morning semifinals while Young, last year’s PGA Rookie of the Year, ousted third-ranked Rory Mcilroy in 19 holes.

In the final, Young won the second hole with a five-foot birdie put but Burns dropped his approach inches from the hole for a birdie to claim the fith and pull level.

Burns nearly holed out from 45 yards and birdied to win the par-5 sixth then took the par-3 seventh when Young missed a six-foot par put and captured his fourth consecutive hole with a 20-foot birdie put at the eighth, seizing a 3-up advantage.

Burns sank a 12-foot birdie put to win the 10th for a 4-up lead and made a 24-foot birdie put at the par-3 11th, although Young tied the hole with a 22-foot birdie put.

Young found water to lose the par-5 12th and fall 5-down then plunked his ball into water shy of the 13th green and moments later surrendered the match.

Mcilroy, who will overtake Spain’s Jon Rahm to become world number two, led ater every hole in defeating top-ranked Scheffler 2&1 in the third-place match to claim bragging rights ahead of the Masters in two weeks at Augusta National.

Mcilroy can complete a career Grand Slam with a Masters triumph.

Four-time major winner Mcilroy, the 2015 WGC Match Play champion from Northern Ireland, and reigning Masters champion Scheffler, who won the Players Championship earlier this month, each stumbled late in the semis. Mcilroy was 2 up with three holes to play but Young birdied to win the par-5 16th, birdied 18 to equalize and birdied the par-5 12th from nine feet to win the match.

Scheffler birdied 18 to force extra holes, missed a four-foot birdie put for the match at the second extra hole and Burns sank a 14-foot birdie put at the next to advance.

It’s a bit frustrating,” Scheffler said. “But I put up a good fight.”

Celine Boutier of France beat Georgia Hall of England with a birdie on the first playoff hole Sunday to win the LPGA Drive on Championship.

Boutier forced a playoff by making a testy birdie put at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 in the LPGA’S first full-field event of the season.

Playing the 18th hole again, neither golfer found the green with their second shot of the playoff. Boutier, chipping from nearly the same spot as she did in regulation short and right of the green, pitched to about 4 feet. Meanwhile, Hall hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted beyond the hole and failed to convert her birdie effort. That set the stage for Boutier’s winning birdie put.

Boutier had mixed feelings about squaring off in a playoff against - and beating - Hall, a former Solheim Cup teammate.

With the victory, the 29-year-old Boutier claimed her third LPGA victory and became the winningest French player on tour, moving past Patricia Meunier-lebouc and Anne-marie Palli. She had previously won the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open and 2021 Shoprite Classic.

Boutier posted two early birdies at Nos. 2-3 and gave a stroke back with bogey at the sixth. On the back nine, she made a move with birdies at 11 and 13, and none more important than the clutch birdie put at the 18th, her 72nd hole.

Ater three birdie-filled rounds at Superstition Mountain Golf Club, the final round started with 17 players within three shots of the lead and stayed to form.

SPORT

en-ae

2023-03-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daralkhaleej.pressreader.com/article/281938842170831

Dar AlKhaleej