AUSTIN, Texas -- A championship showdown between Georgia Bulldogs alums finished one-sided, as Bubba Watson won his second World Golf Championships title by defeating Kevin Kisner, 7 and 6, in the finals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Sunday afternoon at Austin Country Club.It's the largest margin of victory in the championship final since 2008, when Tiger Woods beat Stewart Cink, 8 and 7, in the then-36 hole final.
Watson becomes just the fifth player to win multiple WGCs and multiple majors.
"It's crazy to think about it," Watson said. "I've got two World Golf Championships, counting this one, and two majors. I'm done, you know?
"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 mean 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."
Watson won the first five holes with one birdie, three pars and a conceded hole, as Kisner was unable to duplicate the form that had taken him to the championship match. Kisner suffered three early bogeys and lost the seventh hole with another bogey after an errant tee shot, as every mistake was magnified against the steady Watson.
"That grueling match that he had this morning, extra holes, you could just tell, the energy wasn't there," Watson said. "The drive and the competition was there, but he was just exhausted. And obviously for me it works out great for me, but for him, he had a great week, but obviously buried the first hole. I buried that hole a couple of times this week. Getting off to a quick start like that just puts pressure on anybody."
Even when Kisner showed some life -- such as draining a 20-foot par putt on the 10th hole -- Watson had an answer, as he birdied the 10th from 11 feet to go 7-up.
"I don't know what was going on," Kisner said. "It was just pitiful. I couldn't hit anywhere close to where I was trying. Long week. A little tired, probably. Lose some legs, and just didn't have it. And finally made a few good swings coming in, but those were too little, too late."
Watson's previous WGC win was the 2015 HSBC Champions. He now has 11 PGA TOUR victories, including two in his last four starts, as he won the Genesis Open in mid-February. His next start will the Masters, which he has won twice.
Watson, who earlier in the day beat Justin Thomas 3 and 2 to deny the current FedExCup leader a chance to move to world No. 1, opened the match by winning the first hole with a 12-foot putt, and then Kisner began to self-destruct. He missed a 9-foot par putt at the second, then found trouble again off the tee at the par-4 third, setting up another bogey. His tee shot at the par-3 fourth landed in the greenside bunker, and he failed to get up-and down. Another greenside bunker at the fifth resulted in a conceded hole after Watson's approach finished inside seven feet.
Kisner, who beat the red-hot Alex Noren in 19 holes in the semifinals, didn't win his first hole until the par-3 11th when he rolled in a putt from 34.5 feet.
But the match ended on the 12th when Watson rolled in his winning putt from seven feet. Earlier in the day, Kisner had won the 12th hole with an eagle putt and again in sudden-death with a birdie putt in his semifinal win over Alex Noren.
