Hunter Mahan Defeats Rory McIlroy To Win Accenture Match Play Championship

Hunter Mahan did all his damage on the front nine as he faced Rory McIlroy in the 2012 Accenture Match Play championship match, then had to hang on down the wire. After an even first five holes, Mahan strung together three-straight winning holes, quickly taking a 3-up lead over McIlroy. Though McIlroy did attempt to make a run down the stretch, Mahan’s lead proved to be insurmountable as he took the title with a 2 & 1 win.

Mahan got the streak started with a birdie on No. 6, besting McIlroy’s par on the hole. Both players made a mess of the seventh hole, with Mahan’s bogey holding up against McIlroy’s double-bogey. On the par five eighth, Mahan parred the hole while McIlroy carded a bogey, stretching the lead to three.

It seems like PGA Tour golfers are playing a game of “anything you can do, I can do better.” Except instead of focusing on impressive and useful shots, they’ve engaged in a war of trick shots involving the gallery. No fan is safe, and that’s quite all right considering the hilarity of it all.

First it was Phil Mickelson hitting a tee shot into a fan’s shorts a few weeks back. It was impressive, to be sure, but there was room for improvement. Lee Westwood may have found the ceiling, though, on Sunday at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

The World Golf Championships’ Accenture Match Play Championship final is finally set. Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan each advanced through the bracket on Sunday morning to make it to the finale, scheduled to take place at 2:20 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

McIlroy, the North Ireland native, defeated England’s Lee Westwood on Sunday morning to make it all the way through match play and into the championship. The final score of their meeting was 3-and-1, putting McIlroy in the driver’s seat to become the top-ranked golfer in the world.

At the 2012 Accenture Match Play tournament in Arizona, one of the semifinal matches has already been set for Sunday.

In the final match in the Ben Hogan bracket, No. 6 seed Hunter Mahan knocked off No. 4 seed Matt Kuchar by winning six holes to Kuchar’s five in 13 holes. Kuchar bogeyed on holes 3, 5, 7 and 10 while Mahan made par on all four.

When Martin Kaymer went down 4 and 3 to Matt Kuchar at the 2012 Accenture Match Play Championships on Friday, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood were suddenly left as the only 1-seeds remaining in the tournament. If the two stars can get past their quarterfinal opponents Saturday, they will tee off against each other Sunday for the right to go the final. With that said, neither golfer is looking past their upcoming opponents.

Westwood was equally cautious to think about the attention that a showdown with McIlroy would garner. He noted that no matter how well he plays on Saturday--and he is playing very well--he has no control over how his opponent performs.

The quarterfinals at the 2012 Accenture Match Play will take place on Saturday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona. The competition in the knockout tournament has been fierce, as expected. After 64 of the top 66 ranked golfers in the world started the event earlier in the week, the field is down to the final eight players. Tiger Woods didn’t make the cut, nor did Martin Kaymer. Of the No. 1 seeds in the four brackets, only Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood remain.

Here are Saturday’s pairings and tee times. All times are local (MT). The event will be televised nationally on NBC from 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ET.

Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood are officially the last of the No. 1 seeds at the 2012 World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championships, as Martin Kaymer fell to Matt Kuchar 4 and 3 on Friday. Hunter Mahan upset Steve Stricker, the 2-seed on the same bracket, setting up an underdog pairing in the quarterfinals of the Ben Hogan bracket.

No other matches have finished yet on Day 3, though all have advanced onto the back 9. Westwood and McIlroy both hold comfortable 3 up leads through 14 and 10, respectively. Westwood is set to face the winner between Scotsmen Martin Laird and Paul Lawrie in the Sam Snead bracket. Laird is 2 up through 12 over Lawrie. McIlroy would face the winner between John Senden and Sang-Moon Bae in the Gary Player bracket. That pairing is tied through ten holes.

Tiger Woods will not be moving on to the third round of the 2012 World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championships, as he was eliminated Thursday in match play by Nick Watney.

Woods, the No. 5 seed in the Sam Snead bracket, took an early lead thanks to a birdie on the second hole and Watney’s bogey on the fifth. That put Tiger up one going into the seventh, but Watney took charge, winning that hole thanks to a Woods bogey. Watney then went one-up on the 10th, two-up on the 12th and withstood a late rally by Tiger to win the round.

The second day of play at the 2012 World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championships in Marana, Ariz., is two-thirds over, with 12 golfers having already advanced to the quarterfinal round.

In the Bobby Jones bracket, No. 16 seed Ernie Els’ magical ride came to a sudden end when he was bested by Peter Hanson, 5 and 4. The No. 9 seed Hanson took down Els, who upset top overall seed and defending champion Luke Donald on Wednesday.

The first round of the 2012 Accenture Match Play tournament is known for producing plenty of upsets and curious results. Wednesday’s results were no different.

Top seed and defending champion Luke Donald lost 5&4 to late-entry Ernie Els in the opening round. After getting into the tournament via Phil Mickelson’s decision to skip, all Els did was out-play the No. 1 player in the world.

The first round of the 2012 Accenture Match Play tournament has produced plenty of upsets through the first half of Wednesday. Higher-ranked seeds have lost 10 out of 16 matches so far, setting up a Day 2 bereft of a lot of top names. Of the players eliminated so far, two were ranked in the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Australian Adam Scott, a No. 2 seed at the tournament, fell to Robert Rock of England (who has yet to play in a PGA Event this year) by three holes with two left to play. Not to be outdone, world No. 6 and 2-seed Webb Simpson dropped his match 3 and 2 to Italian Matteo Manassero.

The 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play championship will kick off on Wednesday morning in Marana, Arizona. The knockout tournament will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Gold Club at Dove Mountain. The event is certainly not lacking star power, as all 64 participating golfers are the top-ranked in the world. Only No. 11 Phil Mickelson and No. 23 Paul Casey will be absent.

The initial match-ups will be divided into four brackets: the Bobby Jones bracket, the Ben Hogan bracket, the Gary Player bracket and the Sam Snead bracket.

The World Golf Championships (WGC) Accenture Match Play Championship is one of the few golf events each year that pits players against each other in the match play format. And the 2012 Accenture Match Play, beginning on Wednesday, is going to have some juicy matches from the round of 64 on, thanks to the tournament’s seeding.

Defending champion and No. 1 seed Luke Donald meets No. 64 seed Ernie Els in a first-round match that pits a rising star with one of the game’s greats, and it’s one of many such matchups in the first round. Golf.com has all the 2012 Accenture Match Play pairings, which include No. 9 Dustin Johnson meeting No. 56 Jim Furyk, No. 14 Nick Watney tangling with No. 51 Darren Clarke, and No. 29 David Toms facing No. 36 Rickie Fowler.