Sam Burns wins fifth PGA Tour title after routing Cameron Young 6&5 in the WCG Dell-Technologies World Match Play final; Young still winless on PGA Tour; Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in third and fourth-place play-off after semi-final defeats in Austin, Texas
Monday 27 March 2023 01:01, UK
Sam Burns thumped fellow American Cameron Young 6&5 in the final of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play to secure his fifth PGA Tour title and deny his opponent a first.
Burns and Young had pulled off upset victories over defending champion Scottie Scheffler and 2015 winner Rory McIlroy respectively in the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon, ensuring a new champion would be crowned in what is set to be the final edition of the event.
Burns racked up eight birdies in 10 holes from the fourth onwards to rout Young and add to his back-to-back Valspar Championship victories in 2021 and 2022, as well as his triumphs at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2021 and Charles Schwab Challenge in May of last year.
World No 15 Burns slipped one down after bogeying the second hole but then moved five up with six to play after a series of gains, starting with three in a row across the fourth, fifth and sixth.
World No 17 Young - whose glut of second-placed finishes includes last year's Open Championship at St Andrews - then found the water off the tee at 13 before Burns notched his eighth birdie in total and fourth on the trot to clinch victory and the $3.5m top prize.
Burns said: "What a week, I am so tired. I know Cam didn't have his best stuff but it was a great match. I felt like I found something at the end of my match with Scottie [Scheffler] and was able to carry that on this afternoon.
"I have just tried to stack one good swing after another. It is what I have tried to do today and the last couple of weeks. It is nice to see the hard work I have put in paying off on the golf course."
Young added: "All I can take away is that I played really well. I am just thankful I got myself all the way here. I felt like I had a bunch of really tough opponents and just ran in to Sam Burns playing really well.
"We all know he is one of the best players in the world and when he is on top of it he might be the best player in the world. He certainly was against me."
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