Sam Burns took 21 holes to defeat World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler within the semifinals earlier than cruising to a 6-and-5 victory over Cameron Young to win the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play title on Sunday in Austin, Texas.
It marks Burns’ fifth profession win and his first of 2023 after amassing three trophies final season. It was his debut look within the occasion.
The No. 13 seed, Burns went undefeated this week at Austin Country Club. In the group stage, he swept Ireland’s Seamus Power, Australia’s Adam Scott and Canada’s Adam Hadwin to win Group 13. On Saturday, he edged Patrick Cantlay 2-and-1 within the Round of 16 and beat Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes 3-and-2 within the quarterfinals.
“I’m so tired,” the 26-year-old Burns mentioned. “Yeah, it was fun playing Cam today. I know he didn’t have his best stuff, but it was a great match. I mean, I feel like I got off to kind of a — not a great start, but felt like I kind of found something at the end of my match this morning with Scottie, and I was able to carry that on this afternoon.”
In the semifinals, Burns birdied the primary three holes and Scheffler parred all three. Scheffler gained 5 of the subsequent six holes to flip his deficit right into a 2-up lead.
Birdies on the par-4 thirteenth and fifteenth holes helped Burns sq. the match. He sank a birdie putt on the par-3 seventeenth to take a 1-up lead, however Scheffler pressured further holes by successful the 18th with a birdie.
After each gamers birdied the primary playoff gap and parred the second, Burns’ drive on the third playoff gap (the par-4 14th) discovered a fairway bunker. But he recovered by sticking his subsequent shot 15 ft away from the pin, and his birdied 3 bested Scheffler’s par 4.
Scheffler was the event’s defending champion. Burns’ semifinal victory was harking back to the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge, when he defeated his pal Scheffler in a playoff by making a 38-foot birdie putt from off the inexperienced.
“I knew after the start I got on Scottie, 3-up through 3, I knew it was going to be battle. I knew he was going to make a run,” Burns mentioned. “I kind of lost my game a little bit halfway through the round and I was really pleased with how I finished and ultimately to come away with the win.”
In comparable style, Young wanted 19 holes to defeat Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy within the semifinals.
Young was 2-down via 15 earlier than birdieing the par-5 sixteenth and the par-4 18th to sq. the match. At the primary playoff gap, the par-5 twelfth, each gamers had birdie putts inside 10 ft however Young made his and McIlroy’s missed.
“It’s just further proof that I feel like I can hang with anybody in the world,” mentioned Young, final season’s PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. “Rory’s obviously one of the best of his generation, if not the best, and one of the best players in the world right now. So anytime you get to go out and play 19 holes with him it’s a lot of fun. Just thankful to get it done.”
But Young should hold ready for his maiden PGA Tour victory after Burns dominated the ultimate. Young gained the second gap earlier than Burns took the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth for a 3-up benefit. Burns’ consecutive birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 clinched the match.
McIlroy defeated Scheffler 2-and-1 within the third-place match.
This was the ultimate version of the match-play occasion that has been contested since 1999. The tour has mentioned that it gained’t return to the schedule in 2024.