Tune in at 2:00 PM ET for final day coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play. Ryan Kelly will be liveblogging for your enjoyment.
Hello and welcome to theScore's ongoing coverage of the PGA Tour. Today we present the championship and consolation matches of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
It's an All-American final with defending champion Hunter Mahan taking on Matt Kuchar.
Meanwhile in the consolation match, Jason Day is squaring off against Ian Poulter.
@BBSlefty: You may ultimately be correct, but the fact remains: last fall Mahan was not playing well enough to deserve being picked.
Par 5 2nd - Ian Poulter was perfectly positioned in the fairway off the tee, but now playing back into a stiff wind there is no chance to go for the green in two. Jason Day, meanwhile, continues a rough Sunday, tugging his second left and finding the desert.
Par 5 2nd - Day's ball was playable and he had an avenue towards the green, punching it back onto the green, but it rolls off. Poulter then lands his at the back of the green and spins it back onto the surface.
Par 4 1st - The championship match is now underway, as Kuchar strikes his opening drive down the middle. Mahan does the same -- albeit a touch more left -- but it stays on the short grass.
Par 5 2nd - Both players concede par and the hole is halved.
Par 4 1st - Kuchar had 207 yards to the flag and he took a 4-iron that just skirted the bunker on the left, but caught a ridge that fed it down into a collection area below the level of the green. Mahan then pushed his approach a bit to the right and it took a couple hops on the green before trickling into the primary rough, right of the green.
Par 4 1st - Kuchar's recovery shot is certainly a solid one, leaving him just a couple inches from the cup. His par is conceded.
Par 4 1st - Mahan follows Kuchar's lead and we'll head to the second tee all-square.
Par 5 2nd - Kuchar with another solid tee ball, again positioned in the middle. Mahan worked a big draw against the wind and, though it was heading towards a bunker, it appears to be short of that.
Worth noting: This will be the third straight year a former Haskins Award winner has won match play, as both Mahan and Kuchar won the award.
Par 5 2nd - Kuchar's second is positioned perfectly on the far left of the fairway, leaving him a good angle to the hole cut back-right. Mahan took his down the right and is in the primary rough and won't have the advantage of that good angle.
Par 5 2nd - Kuchar with 110 yards left to the hole and he hoists it high in the air and on a good line, but the wind knocks it down about 30-feet short of its intended destination. Mahan, who drew a good lie in the rough, had 84 yards and flew his over the flag and will have a similar length putt to his opponent.
Par 4 4th - Jason Day with a bit of an adventure needed to hole-out from the sand to halve the hole and it unable to do so. Poulter now 2-up through 4.
Par 5 2nd - Kuchar's birdie putt is just a wee bit wide of the target on the left, but his par is conceded. Mahan then with an unlikely birdie putt of his own to potentially win the hole and he leaves it a couple of feet short, but it is conceded as well.
Par 3 3rd - With the wind blowing hard off the right, Kuchar aims his ball out that way -- where the only water hazard on the course is -- and he rides the wind back to the left. His ball settles just off the surface on the fringe. Mahan also misses left, but it's short of the bunker that's over there.
Par 3 3rd - Mahan's pitch from in front of the green is good, but not great. It just barely trickles over a ridge between him and the hole, leaving him about 6-feet for par. Kuchar then lines up his putt from the fringe and never gave it enough juice back into the wind, leaving it about the same distance short.
Par 3 3rd - Mahan's par putt just skids by on the left, leaving the door open for Kuchar to put Mahan down for the first time in 168 holes, dating back to the first round of last year's tournament, but he can't get it to go either.
Par 4 4th - Kuchar with driver off the tee at the short par 4, and just barely keeps it in the fairway on the left. Mahan loses his to the right, but if it's not in the fairway it's just barely sitting on the first cut. No problems there.
Par 4 4th - Mahan gets away with his mis-struck tee ball as he's in the fairway and with a good angle to the flag. Even with that though, it's a poor second shot, leaving it short of the green. Kuchar -- from a much worse angle -- landed his just beside the flag and was unlucky that it hopped onto the fringe, otherwise it likely would have spun back.
Par 4 4th - Another poor pitch shot from Mahan, catching the ground first and leaving it short of its intended target again. He then misses he long par putt, and will post back-to-back bogeys. Barring a massive mistake from Kuchar, Mahan is about to trail for the first time, in a long time.
Par 4 4th - Kuchar cozies his birdie putt up close and the hole is conceded. Kuchar is now 1-up.
Par 4 5th - Kuchar works a mini-draw off the tee and finds the fairway. Mahan loses his tee ball right and it settles down in the primary rough.
Par 4 5th - Mahan has to go down to dig out his ball from the rough and tugs it a bit left. He's short of the green, but it was unlikely he could reach there anyway. He'll also have to play his third from the first cut. Kuchar then flares his out to the right, finding the green-side bunker to the right.
Par 4 5th - Mahan's third shot is a pretty solid one, landing just left the flag and stopping it about 8-feet away. A good chance to save par. Kuchar then plays the low, running bunker shot and he hits a beauty. Mahan is gonna have a big pressure putt to avoid losing a second straight hole.
Par 4 5th - Mahan's par putt slides by on the right and he is now 2-down to Matt Kuchar.
Par 5 8th - Poulter with a good look at birdie to halve the hole and he misses. Jason Day has now squared up the consolation match.
Par 3 6th - Kuchar with a wonderful approach that nearly goes in for an ace and the pressure is back on Mahan in a big, big way.
Par 3 6th - Mahan's approach comes up quite a bit short and he's in big-time danger of going 3-down.
Par 3 6th - Mahan never hit his birdie putt close to hard enough and he left himself with a longer par putt, then Kuchar's birdie attempt. He then misses the par, and concedes the hole.
Par 4 7th - Kuchar takes his tee ball down the left and it bounces off the fairway and into the primary rough. Mahan then takes an aggressive line and rips it down the pipe.
Par 4 7th - Kuchar carries his approach well too far and he'll have a pretty tricky two-putt. Mahan then hits a beauty that leaves him a good look at a birdie.
Par 4 9th - After Poulter drove his ball in the desert and needed to take an unplayable lie, he ends up with a conceded bogey and Jason Day wins his third straight hole. This time with a par, to take a 1-up lead.
Par 4 7th - Kuchar shows a great touch on his long birdie putt, leaving it just a couple feet short for a conceded par. Mahan then with the door open to pull one back, catches the right edge and it stays out. A big dodged bullet for Kuchar.
Par 5 8th - Kuchar and Mahan are both in the fairway at the short-ish par 5.
Par 5 8th - Kuchar with an iron in hand attacking the green with his second shot and it takes a hop off the downslope of a ridge short of the green. It shoots forward and runs off the back. Mahan then mis-hits his approach, keeping it low and losing it to the left. He'll have little green to work with and having to play his third downwind as well.
Par 5 8th - Mahan elects to make the riskier play, landing it short in the rough and letting it just dribble onto the green and he pulls it off, leaving himself a decent look at birdie. Kuchar then chops out and leaves himself only a couple feet for birdie.
Par 5 8th - Mahan with another solid effort at a birdie, but it just stays out on the left. Kuchar then with a shortie for birdie that he cashes-in to go 4-up.
Par 4 9th - Kuchar with 3-wood off the tee and it leaks to the right and bounds into the desert. Mahan, also with less than driver, is down the right as well, but it hangs up in the rough.
Par 4 9th - Mahan's approach lands near pin-high, but he had no ability to spin it out of the rough and it shoots forward, and off the green. Kuchar will have to flight his ball down to get beneath some limbs in the desert. He does so quite well, with it peeling to the right and down in a similar area to Mahan.
Hunter Mahan must be in love with this tournyby NBC_Is_ME via twitter 2/24/2013 8:15:00 PM
