Austin: Sam Burns secured the 2023 WGC Match Play title in style with a 6 and 5 victory over Cameron Young in the final after ending World no.1 Scottie Scheffler’s title defence earlier in the day. The 26-year-old Burns found himself behind early on against Young but responded brilliantly, winning four holes in a row from the fifth to turn the match on its head at Austin Country Club.
He kept his foot on the gas after the turn, with wins at the tenth and 12th stretching his lead to five, and the contest ended at the 13th as Burns’ eighth birdie of the match wrapped up a convincing win. Rory McIlroy came out on top in his heavyweight clash with World Number One Scottie Scheffler in the consolation match, winning 2&1 to finish third, and moving to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Earlier in the day, Burns had beaten his close friend Scheffler in a back-and-forth semi-final encounter which was decided at the third playoff hole. Young, meanwhile, defeated McIlroy at the first extra hole in their evenly-matched contest. Burns said, ‘What a week. I’m so tired. I felt like I found something towards the end of my match with Scottie and was able to carry that on this afternoon. It means a lot. I’ve been in a playoff in a WGC before and I ultimately did not get it done. So to have the opportunity today – very honoured to have that opportunity to compete against Cam, who is one of the best players in the world. I’m very pleased. It would be a dream come true (to make the USA Ryder Cup team). Being on the Presidents Cup team and having that experience was unbelievable. It’s such a fun experience being on a team with those guys and world-class players and to be able to learn from them and have that experience with them. So, yeah, it would be a dream come true to be on the team’.
Cameron Young said, ‘I think I probably shot about 35 under par for the seven rounds. Obviously frustrating to lose today, but I definitely played a lot of good golf and I think my game’s in a really good spot for the next few weeks’. McIlroy added. ‘Yeah, a ton of positives to take away. I think Scottie and I were both disappointed that we lost our matches this morning. It was a bit of a pillow fight there for quite a bit of the match. But we produced some good golf on that back nine and we created some birdies. Yeah, tons of positives’.
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