It’s been a dominant string of tournaments for Australian Golf. It started with Adam Scott, who is having a spectacular 2016 season, winning in back-to-back weeks at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship. Charl Schwartzel would take the Valspar Championship, but Australian golf would take over again with Jason Day winning last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and just this past weekend at the WGC-Dell Match Play.
After struggling in his first couple of tournaments in the year, Day spoke to his friend, Tiger Woods, about gaining back the edge and killer instinct to close out tournaments. Visualization and a strong pre-shot routine was key. With that advice fresh in his mind, he refocused and continued playing like he did at the end of 2015. In the semi-finals of the WGC-Dell Match Play, we were treated to a spectacular match between Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. Day was up to the challenge and hit huge, clutch golf shots during the match – he would eventually win 1-up against McIlroy and would face Louis Oosthuizen, who defeated Rafa Carbrera Bello 3 & 2, in the final match.
Day took the momentum from his match with Rory and continued to play unbelievably in his match against Oosthuizen. He would win the match 5 & 4 to claim is ninth PGA TOUR title, while Cabrera Bello beat McIlroy 3 & 2 in the consolation match. This win for Day is also the 6th in his last 13 starts and with it, he regains the #1 position in the Official World Golf Rankings.
This victory almost didn’t materialize as Day tweaked his back in his opening match Wednesday. With many on his team urging him to withdraw, Day would continue the tournament and come out on top – definitely adding more grit to his resume! With such strong play coming from Day (and Scott), we can definitely see them contending on Sunday at The Masters, which is just two weeks away! Watch the highlights from the final day’s matches above.
Source: PGA Tour
