Posted on Orange Sport UK - February 26, 2013
"Matt Kuchar described it as an "incredible feeling" to win the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona on Sunday.
In tennis it would be a huge story if the world's 23rd-ranked male or female player - currently Sam Querrey and Su-Wei Hsieh respectively - won one of the biggest titles going.
In golf it comes as no surprise at all to see Kuchar win the Accenture Match Play Championship, certainly not at the end of a week which had world number one Rory McIlroy lose to 64th seed Shane Lowry, Tiger Woods go down to 63rd seed Charles Howell and none of the top seven seeds even make it to the last 16.
Kuchar's victory makes it eight different winners in the first eight events of the PGA Tour year, while on the European Tour - the Match Play counts for both - nine tournaments so far this season have produced nine different outcomes.
"Every week is a great opportunity," said the sport's newest world champion after beating holder Hunter Mahan 2&1 in the final in Arizona.
Kuchar is developing a superb match play record - in this event if not at the Ryder Cup, where in his two singles games so far he has been beaten 5&4 by Ian Poulter at Celtic Manor and then 3&2 by Lee Westwood in Chicago.
Win either of those and Europe would not have been celebrating, but he has been a semi-finalist, quarter-finalist and now the champion at Dove Mountain in the last three years.
"I'm not sure I can explain how excited I am to have won this tournament," the 34-year-old gushed. "Match play I find to be such an amazing, unique format, so much fun to play and so much pressure. It seems like each hole there's so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole.
"To come out on top after six matches with the top 64 guys in the world it's an incredible feeling."
Kuchar is one of golf's good guys, someone who really appreciates playing a sport for a living where the rewards are so huge.
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