Bubba Watson wins WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 26 March 2018

Bubba Watson beat Kevin Kisner by 7 and 6 in the final of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Texas.

Bubba Watson wins WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Bubba Watson had beaten Justin Thomas in the semi-finals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and Kevin Kisner had come through an exciting match against Sweden’s Alex Noren. Kisner had seen off Ian Poulter by 8 and 6 in the quarter-final so it looked as though the final might be a tight affair.

It didn't turn out like that though. Bubba won the first five holes to establish an unassailable lead. By the turn he had increased his advantage to six and, although Kisner got one back on the 11th, the match was completed when Bubba birdied the 12th.

The victory means that Watson is only the fifth player to have won multiple Majors and multiple WGC titles. A two-time Masters champion, Bubba also won the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in 2014. The others to have landed multiple Majors and WGCs are: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy.

"It's crazy to think about it," he said. "I've got two World Golf Championships, counting this one, and two Majors. It's unbelievable to think about that. Giving my mom a hug, six years old, having one golf club for a year, no lessons. I can sit here and make up stories all day but it's absolutely remarkable that I'm able to lift a trophy like this."

In the third/fourth place playoff, Sweden’s Alex Noren saw off Justin Thomas by five and three. Noren won the first but Thomas bounced back at the third. The Swede moved ahead again at the fourth though and would never relinquish his lead from that point onwards.

If Thomas had won this event he would have moved to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, overtaking Dustin Johnson who lost in the group stages of this competition. But the USPGA champion lost to Bubba in the semi-finals and the wind went out of his sails.

Related: Bubba Watson Q&A: "I've never had a lesson"

WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Austin Country Club, Austin Texas 21-25 March Purse: $10,000,000 Par: 71

1 Bubba Watson (USA) $1,700,000 2 Kevin Kisner (USA) $1,072,000 3 Alex Noren (Swe) $695,000 4 Justin Thomas (USA) $559,000 T5 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) $306,000 T5 Kyle Stanley (USA) $306,000 T5 Cameron Smith (Aus) $306,000 T5 Ian Poulter (Eng) $306,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage

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Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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