AUSTIN, Texas — Sam Burns won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on the 13th green at Austin Country Club, most appropriate for this unpredictable tournament because that’s where he thought he had lost it.
Some four hours earlier, Burns stood on that same green ready to remove his cap and congratulate 2022 tourney champion Scottie Scheffler, who had a four-foot birdie putt to win their semifinal match in overtime.
And then it all changed, quickly and dramatically, like so often in this format.
Scheffler missed. Burns birdied the next hole to win. And then the 26-year-old from Louisiana delivered a masterful performance with eight birdies over his last 10 holes for a 6-and-5 victory over Cameron Young in the final edition of the Match Play.
“Crazy week,” Burns said.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was 2 up with three holes to play against Young in the semifinals when one swing (into a bunker), one bad break (into the side collar of a bunker) and one missed putt (on the 19th hole) pushed the event’s No. 3 seed into the consolation final against the top-ranked Scheffler.
Young, seeded 15th, went from one of the most satisfying rounds of his career to feeling helpless. He made a few mistakes in the championship match, but there was no stopping the 13th-seeded Burns and that silky putting stroke in Austin.
“I was a million under for the week,” Young said. “It’s really easy to think you’re so close. There’s only one guy standing between you and winning a tournament. But that one guy is Sam Burns playing really well.”
Indeed, the final edition of this wild and wacky tournament ultimately turned into a downer for just about everyone but Burns. He went on a tear Sunday afternoon in the championship match, with just enough help from Young at the end for the second-largest margin of victory over 18 holes in match play.
Young had to settle for his sixth runner-up finish in the past two seasons on the PGA Tour, disappointed but not without perspective. Including concessions, he was 41 under for the week. There wasn’t much he could do against Burns.
Said Young: “There might not have been anybody beating him today the way he played.”
The gallery, strong and loud and thoroughly entertained during the semifinals, thought they were going to get the world’s top two players in the final match of the final Match Play. That turned out to be only partially true. Burns was celebrating his fifth PGA Tour title as McIlroy and Scheffler played on. McIlroy won the consolation match, 2 and 1.
Burns went from 3 up to 2 down to 1 up playing the final hole against Scheffler until the No. 1 player in the world hit a beauty of a pitch-and-run up the slope to a back pin on the 18th for a birdie to send it to extra holes.
It was the first time in the 24-year history that both semifinal matches went overtime.
Scheffler was four feet away from becoming the first player in three straight title matches, and then he missed the short birdie putt on No. 13, their 20th hole. Burns answered with a fairway bunker shot to 15 feet and a birdie putt to win.
“That’s the nature of this match play,” Burns said. “It’s one holed putt or missed putt away from winning or losing. He gave me a gift there on 13.”
The end of the title match was anticlimactic. Young pulled his shot from rough into the water on the par-5 12th, and then he came up short of the green and into the water on the reachable par-4 13th.
Burns chipped to just inside three feet, and Young removed his cap without making him putt.
AP photo by Eric Gay / Rory McIlroy, left, and Scottie Scheffler, center, looks at their putting lines on the fifth hole at Austin Country Club during the consolation final at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament Sunday at Austin Country Club in Texas. Wallace wins
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — Matt Wallace was hugging his caddie again Sunday, not to make good from an argument but to celebrate his victory at the Corales Punta Cana Championship.
Wallace, already a four-time winner on the European circuit, won in his 80th career start on the PGA Tour.
The 32-year-old English player ran off four straight birdies down the stretch and closed with two solid pars for a 6-under 66 to finish at 19-under 269. He was on the putting green when Nicolai Hojgaard, the 22-year-old from Denmark playing on a sponsor exemption, had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff.
The putt just missed on the low side, and he closed out a 68 to finish one shot back.
American golfers Tyler Duncan (68) and Sam Stevens (69), a rookie, shared third place at 17 under.
Wallace was coming off a tie for seventh the previous weekend at the Valspar Championship, memorable only for his play on the 18th hole off a cart path and an animated argument with caddie Samuel Bernard for asking if Wallace was sure about the shot. That isn’t unusual for Wallace, though it made for good television, and player and caddie were seen hugging it out later.
In this final round, the vibes were all positive, especially during the birdie stretch that began at the 13th hole.
Because it was held opposite the Match Play event with a tougher field in Texas, Wallace’s win doesn’t gain him entry into the Masters in two weeks. However, he is set for the PGA Championship in May and the Tournament of Champions next January.
AP photo by Mike Carlson / Matt Wallace, shown during the Valspar Championship on March 19, won the PGA Tour’s Corales Punta Cana Championship on Sunday in the Dominican Republic.Toms stays hot
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — David Toms fired a 7-under 65 to finish off a four-stroke, wire-to-wire victory at the Galleri Classic and become the first two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.
Toms closed out his second victory in three starts and fourth career win on the 50-and-older tour with an eight-birdie, one-bogey performance at Mission Hills Country Club.
New Zealand’s Steven Alker was the runner-up after closing with a 67 highlighted by five birdies, including four on the back nine, while South Africa’s Retief Goosen (65) tied Paul Stankowski (66) for third at 11 under. Five players shared fifth.
The 56-year-old Toms, who won the Cologuard Classic earlier this month, has clinched his first multiple-win season on the senior circuit since joining in 2017. He’s also in first place in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Sunday stroll
JOHANNESBURG — Nick Bachem pulled clear of the field with a faultless final round of 8-under 64 to win the Jonsson Workwear Open by four shots.
It’s the first victory on the Europe-based DP World Tour for the 23-year-old German, who split his eight birdies Sunday between the front and back nines at the Club at Steyn City to finish at 24-under 264.
South African players Hennie du Plessis (68) and Zander Lombard (65) were the runners-up, with fourth place shared by their compatriot Ockie Strydom (67) and Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson (68) at 19 under.
Bachem was one stroke behind after the first round, held a one-stroke lead after 36 holes, and went into the final day one stroke behind and tied with three other players. He made four birdies in his first six holes, and after his seventh of the round on No. 14, he had opened a five-shot lead over his challengers.
Playoff settles it
GOLD CANYON, Ariz. — Celine Boutier of France beat Georgia Hall of England with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Drive on Championship.
Boutier forced the extra hole by making a testy birdie putt at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 at Superstition Mountain in the tour’s first full-field event of the season.
With the victory, the 29-year-old earned her third LPGA victory and became the winningest French player on tour, moving past Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli. Boutier also won the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open and the 2021 ShopRite Classic.
Japan’s Ayaka Furue closed with a 65 and finished third at 19 under.