Kisner wins match play title after ‘gruelling’ week
Kevin Kisner improved one position from last year’s WGC Dell Match Play, but it was a big one.
Kisner defeated Matt Kuchar 3&2 in an all-American final on Sunday at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, erasing memories of the 7&6 thrashing he took from Bubba Watson in 2018’s final match.
“It was gruelling, definitely the winds were tough, the temperature today, and overall just a long week,” said Kisner to NBC Sports from the 16th green after the win. “But I prevailed and I’m a World Golf Champion.”
Sunday began with wind chills near 0 C temperatures as Kisner, Kuchar, Francesco Molinari and Lucas Bjerregaard bundled up and took to the course for the morning semifinal matches. Kisner defeated Molinari one-up, and Kuchar took down Tiger-slayer Bjerregaard also one-up.
Kisner was asked if the weather made it feel more like a British Open. The Southerner agreed, but added, “Except the food’s better here.”
The weather warmed for the Kisner-Kuchar afternoon final in which Kisner never trailed. He made four birdies and an eagle before winning the match with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to go three-up.
Kisner, from Aiken, S.C., has built a reputation as a tough-asnails competitor with a deadly putter, a perfect combination for match-play golf. As he racked up wins this week, his omission from the 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup team looked more and more like a glaring mistake. European stalwart Lee Westwood took to Twitter to twist the knife after the American’s 6&5 round robin win over HaoTong Li.
“Kevin Kisner appears to be a very good match play player. I’ll tell you a course that would really have suited him. Le Golf National,” Westwood wrote.
Kisner is good friends with American captain Jim Furyk and said the truth was he was playing poorly when time came for the captain to make his picks before heading to Paris.
“Is he going to leave Phil (Mickelson) at home and take Kiz? Nobody’s going to do that.” Kisner said, before deadpanning, “Even though in hindsight, it’s 20/20, everybody should have taken Kiz.”
GMAC BACK ON TOP
After several self described tough, grinding years for Graeme McDowell and those close to him, the Northern Irishman won the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship on Sunday. The 39-year-old shot a three-under 69 to finish at 18-under for the week, edging Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and American Chris Stroud by one stroke.
Stroud’s slip at the last hole elevated Hughes to a tie for second place, his best finish of the season. Hughes made seven birdies against just one bogey to shoot a six-under-par 66 on Sunday.
Hughes’ tie for second comes one week after a tie for 13th at the Valspar Championship.
The 28-year-old from Dundas, Ont., told Postmedia from the Dominican Republic after his round that confidence has made the difference in his game.
“It’s been my mindset the last couple weeks,” he said. “Just telling myself more and more that I belong here and that I’m good enough to win. Carrying that onto the course has freed me up out there.”
Hughes had back-to-back 66s on the weekend to finish at 17-under par, one shot behind McDowell.
Hughes’ only bogey on Sunday came at the 18th hole, which plays over the water and incredibly tough into the wind.
Players were forced to take a more conservative line from the tee and both Hughes and Stroud pulled it left and had to play fairway woods into the green for their approach shot at the par four.
“Very hard to pick a line with the wind in and off the right,” Hughes said. “Pulled my tee shot and had over 260 yards to the flag.”
The bogey at the last didn’t necessarily cost Hughes a chance at a playoff despite losing by one. McDowell, who was in the final group, played a conservative chip knowing that a bogey likely would win, and might have played more aggressively if he needed a par.
Hughes will take plenty of momentum into next week’s Valero Texas Open.
“It was very satisfying to play that way when I had a chance to win,” he said.
McDowell has yet to qualify for the British Open, which is being played at Royal Portrush, in his hometown. It will be the first major championship held in Northern Ireland in 68 years.