Newly minted world number one Jason Day edged defending champion Rory McIlroy 1 up yesterday to reach the final of the World Golf Championships Match Play in Austin, Texas.
Day triumphed in a heavyweight battle of the past two WGC Match Play champions and was to duel with Louis Oosthuizen in yesterday afternoon’s championship match. The South African beat Rafa Cabrera Bello 4 and 3 in the other semi-final.
Day’s quarter-final victory over Brooks Koepka on Saturday, coupled with Jordan Spieth’s round of 16 defeat, ensured the Australian will regain the world number one ranking from Spieth today.
Day, the 2014 champion, can join Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy as multiple Match Play winners. He ended McIlroy’s bid to join Woods as the only player to successfully defend the title, but the Aussie admitted he found the tense see-saw battle nerve-wracking.
“It was a hard match today,” said Day, admitting he was nervous as he stood over the 13-foot par putt at the final hole, which he rolled into halve the hole and win the match.
“I would have been a little disappointed to go through all this stuff and not have a chance of winning (the title),” Day said.
Day took a one-up lead with a birdie at the first, then made a double bogey at the second. The match was all square through 11 when Day drove the green at the par-five 12th, winning the hole with a birdie then winning the 13th with a chip-in birdie. McIlroy drained a 12-foot birdie putt to win the 14th, but couldn’t win another hole.
Oosthuizen is through to the final for the first time after falling in the quarter-finals each of the past two years. He has yet to play the 18th hole this week. Cabrera Bello, who will move into the top 50 in the world next week and thereby gain entry to the Masters, didn’t look as sharp as he had all week.  
Oosthuizen took the lead with a birdie at the first and never relinquished it, winning the 14th and 15th to close it out as Cabrera Bello bogeyed both. “I could see he was not playing well,” Oosthuizen said. “So I just wanted to hit greens, put pressure on him and make sure I made pars.”
On Saturday,  Day had advanced to the semi-final with a 3 and 2 victory over Brooks Koepka, which meant the Australian will regain the world number one ranking from American Jordan Spieth, who was ousted on Saturday morning in the round of 16 by South African Louis Oosthuizen.
McIlroy, seeded third, reached the semi-finals of the elite event for the third time in his career. He took a quick lead over Chris Kirk with an 11-foot birdie putt at the opening hole, but his three-putt bogey at the ninth let Kirk square the match. McIlroy responded emphatically, with birdies to win the 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th—all with putts from within 10 feet.
Meanwhile, with his Masters title defence a fortnight away, Spieth was puzzled by the swing troubles that contributed to his early exit. The 22-year-old Texan had never trailed in his three round-robin matches, but was dispatched 4 and 2 by Oosthuizen in the round of 16. “I didn’t make it very hard on Louis today, which is unfortunate,” Spieth said. “I was off from when I hit my first 10 shots on the range.”
By reaching the last 16, Spieth officially finished the week tied for ninth—ending a streak of four starts without a top 10 finish.
It’s his first top 10 since a runner-up finish at the Singapore Open in January and first on the US PGA Tour since he opened the year with a victory at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
Nevertheless, Spieth said he feels more confident about the year’s first major at Augusta National after four days of pressure-packed match play. “I played very, very solid the last few days and most importantly I made a lot of birdies. That’s something I haven’t been doing as of late, capitalizing when I do hit those good wedges or iron shots in.”
Spieth said it might be no bad thing that Day returns to the top of the rankings, putting the spotlight on the Aussie heading into the Masters. The American said he would now turn his attention toward next week’s Masters tuneup the Houston Open. He was second in Houston last year the week before he won at Augusta National. Spieth was confident his swing would be sorted by the time he hit the practice range.