HUMBLE, Texas – Jim Herman delivered a masterful performance at just the right time Sunday in the Shell Houston Open.

Herman, winless in 105 previous starts on the PGA Tour, chipped in for birdie on the par-3 16th and finished with two solid pars for a 4-under 68 and a one-shot victory that sends him to the Masters for the first time in his career.

Herman tapped in for par and thrust both fists in the air after his one-shot victory over Henrik Stenson.

“Sorry for the tears, but I’m pretty happy,” Herman said in his TV interview. “We really did a good job keeping our game plan. We wanted to give ourselves as many birdie chances as we could and keep it low stress. And geez, look what happened. Never thought it was possible.”

The Houston Open was the final opportunity for players to get into the Masters, and Herman seemed like a long shot at No. 191 in the world whose only professional victory was six years ago at the Moonah Classic in Australia.

Stenson missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 68 to finish one shot behind. It was the Swede’s eighth runner-up finish since his last victory in Dubai at the end of 2014.

Dustin Johnson tried to overcome a double bogey on the 11th hole. He made three birdies coming in, but had to settle for a 69 and was two shots back.

Jordan Spieth made four straight birdies early in his round, but two shots into the water led to double bogeys and a 70. He was seven back in a tie for 13th.

It was the third time since 2008 that a player won the Houston Open to get into the Masters, and Herman might be the most unlikely candidate.

Ten years ago, Herman was working as an assistant pro at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey when he played one day with course owner and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who wanted to know why he was folding shirts instead of competing against the best. Trump encouraged him to give it another shot, and Herman eventually made it out to the PGA Tour.

This is his fifth full season in the big leagues, and he still wears “Trump” on his golf shirts. Within the past month, Herman has changed from block letters of “Trump” to a logo from Trump’s course.

He was artful in closing the deal at the Golf Club of Houston.

Herman and Jamie Lovemark were tied for the lead going into the final round. Lovemark was 4 over through six holes and was never a factor. Herman hung around during Spieth’s early charge, and even after Stenson took the lead.

Stenson fell back with a bogey from the bunker on the 14th hole, only to get that stroke back on the par-5 15th.

Herman, however, never flinched. Tied for the lead, he missed the green to the left on the 16th and was in thick grass near the bunker. His chip came out perfectly and dropped for a surprising birdie and a one-shot lead, and he held it.

He faced a long wait at the 18th to hit his tee shot, with a bunker to the right and water all the way down the left. Herman drilled it 316 yards down the middle, hit a safe shot to the middle of the green, and two putts later he was on his way to Augusta National.

The victory also gets Herman into the PGA Championship for the first time.

Graham DeLaet was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 27th. The Weyburn, Sask., native shot a 5-under 283 for the tournament. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., tied for 46th at 2 under.

HOUSTON – Jim Herman and Jamie Lovemark, two players who have never won a PGA Tour event or played in the Masters, shared the lead going into the final round of the Houston Open.

A win Sunday and they get to tee off at Augusta National next week.

The 38-year-old Herman shot a 5-under 67 Saturday to position himself for a breakthrough. Lovemark, 28 and a former NCAA champion at USC whose professional career was derailed by major back surgery, wasn’t able to build on his fast start, which saw him birdie three of the first four holes. He stayed in the hunt with a 70 after opening rounds of 67 and 68.

Herman and Lovemark were at 11 under par through 54 holes and just a stroke ahead of Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson and Russell Hensley. The Swede Stenson, No. 7 in the current world ranking, posted the day’s best round with a 66 after also birdieing three of the first four holes. Henley had a 68 Saturday and Johnson a 70.

The two players ahead of Stenson in the world ranking, No. 2 Jordan Spieth and No. 5 Rickie Fowler, remained in contention at 6 under and 7 under, respectively, after both carding 70s.

The 22-year-old Spieth, who stayed alive with three birdies on the back side, lost in a three-way playoff here last spring, then went on to win the Masters in resounding fashion, leading start to finish for his first major championship.

Another shot back at 9 under was Roberto Castro, who also scored 70 and is trying to become the first Houston-born player to win the Houston tournament.

None of the leaders should be resting easily given the recent history of the event, which was founded in 1946. The last two champions here, Matt Jones in 2014 and J. B. Holmes a year ago, both came from six strokes behind starting the final round to claim the first-place check.

Nineteen players will tee off Sunday within six shots of the lead, including three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Canadian Graham DeLaet. Mickelson, also the 2011 Houston champion, had six birdies Saturday en route to a 71. A triple bogey on the par-4 sixth hole kept him from being only three strokes off the lead.

HOUSTON – Charley Hoffman had a 2-under 70 for a one-shot lead over Jamie Lovemark at the Houston Open on Friday.

Lovemark was a former NCAA champion seeking his first PGA Tour title after having his career affected by back surgery. He was one of four players to shoot the day’s low score, 68, under conditions that worsened as the afternoon went on, which helped protect Hoffman from the field.

Dustin Johnson was among those chasing Hoffman, who opened with a 64 Thursday, but Johnson dropped back to 8 under with a bogey on 17, closing with a 71 after narrowly missing a 10-foot birdie putt on 18.

Johnson was in the last group to finish the round before darkness stopped play.

A 93-minute morning weather delay brought on by rain and lightning in the area ensured that 27 players will have to complete the second round Saturday morning.

“It was really tough … cold and the wind was blowing,” Johnson said. “The course played difficult, especially the last four, five holes. I still managed to get a round under par, a pretty decent score under the conditions. I’m happy with that.”

Roberto Castro and Jamie Donaldson, are also at 8 under with three holes still to play, sharing third place with Johnson and Chez Reavie. Reavie shot 70 Friday to go with a first-round 66. Johnson and Castro had both opened at 65.

The 39-year-old Hoffman moved to 11 under with a birdie on No. 17, but gave the stroke back by bogeying 18, considered to be one of the most challenging finishing holes on the PGA Tour and made more difficult by wind gusts.

“I had a fairly straightforward bunker shot but caught it a little heavy,” he said. “That’s a tough hole. They moved the tee up today, but there’s still a big water hazard to the left and the wind was blowing in off the right. It’s tough to putt in the wind. It was blowing my ball.

“Tee to green I did pretty well, but the putts weren’t dropping like they did yesterday. I’m happy where I’m at. Anytime you’re near the lead after 36 holes you’re happy.”

Charles Howell III eagled the par-4 10th hole and was making a run at Hoffman before bogeying the par-3 16th and taking a double-bogey on 18 to finish with a second consecutive 69, leaving him in a large group four shots back.

Five-shots back in a group at 5-under was Canada’s Graham DeLaet. The Weyburn, Sask., native was even-par thru 16 holes of his second round when play was called.

Jordan Spieth, who will be trying to defend his Masters title next week, struggled with his putting and, for the second day in a row, put a ball into a water hazard on a par-5 hole. The end result was three bogies on his back nine – the Golf Club of Houston course’s front nine – and he finished with a ragged 73.

“I’m close,” Spieth said. “It’s the dumb stuff … those water balls. That’s four shots right there. It really stinks to keep on making those mistakes. And I’ve got to putt better before next week.

“I’m losing a couple strokes (to) the field on putting and normally we’re gaining strokes. I can’t get into a rhythm. I’m stepping off putts. That’s a tough feeling. It kind of bleeds into the rest of your game because you feel like you’ve got to be more aggressive.”

The 22-year-old Texan lost this tournament in a playoff a year ago before going to Augusta and leading start to finish, tying Tiger Woods’ tournament-record 18-under score. Spieth is one of 34 players within six shots of Hoffman.

Tiger Woods is going to Augusta National next week – to eat, not play.

Woods made it official Friday night what most observers figured all along. Recovery from two back surgeries last year has not progressed to the point where it’s wise for him to tee it up at the Masters. It will be the second time in the last three years that Woods has not played the Masters.

Woods did say on his website that he has been hitting golf balls and training daily. But he still had no timetable for when he would return to competition.

He has said all along that he will not rush his return to golf. Woods turned 40 on Dec. 30.

He said he plans to be at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday.

The azaleas are blooming, the pollen is swirling, and green sport coats are about to be in vogue for one whole week.

Yet something is missing at this dawning of spring.

Tiger Woods.

Whether he shows up at Augusta National to play in the first major of the year is beside the point. It’s not like he’d be a Masters contender, not with a broken-down body that has kept him off the course for more than seven months. Probably best that he just stay away, unless he wants to take a crack at the ceremonial opening tee shot. Now that Arnold Palmer has bowed out, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player need someone to complete their threesome.

All kidding aside, what’s missing is something that’s never coming back.

Tiger Woods in his prime.

While there’s no question the future of the game is in good hands with Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, none of them is likely to match – or even come close – to what Woods did at the height of his dominance.

Spieth gave it a run last year, winning the Masters and the U.S. Open, just missing out on a playoff at the British Open, and taking the runner-up spot at the PGA Championship.

Now, let’s see if the young Texan can keep it up for another decade or so.

“It’s hard to explain to Jordan coming out now how (Woods) was just so much better than everyone,” Adam Scott says. “We’re all quick to forget that sometimes.”

Indeed, with more and more time to reflect on Woods’ legacy – after all, he hasn’t won a major since his one-legged conquest at the 2008 U.S. Open – the enormity of his accomplishments feels like it was dropped on us from another world, transforming this lazy, country-club game into something hip, exciting, must-see TV.

Millions of people who had never watched a golf tournament tuned in every time Woods was on the course. As the ratings can attest, many of them didn’t stick around once he faded away.

Even now, when it seems a bit foolish to even consider him trying to tee it up next week, the breathless speculation about his status for the Masters shows just how much cachet he still carries.

Woods, like so many great athletes in the sunset of their careers, still seems to believe he can win major titles. He surely hasn’t given up on Nicklaus’ Holy Grail of records, those 18 major championships.

“I am starting to feel a lot better,” Woods wrote on his Web site about a month ago, the most recent dispatch on the state of his game. “While there is no timetable on my return to competitive golf, I want to play this game at the highest level again.”

Even Nicklaus, who’s made it clear he likes the view from the top just fine, wishes Woods had a few more good years in him, to at least make it a fair fight.

“I’ve told Tiger many times … nobody wants their records to be broken, but I don’t want you not to have the ability to have that opportunity to do so by your health,” Nicklaus says.

From his first major title at the Masters in 1997, when he shot a record 18-under score at age 21, to that U.S. Open triumph at Torrey Pines eight years ago, Woods played the game better than anyone before him and, we’re willing to wager, anyone to come in ours or several other lifetimes.

Over the course of 46 majors, he won 14 times and was runner-up on five other occasions. He had six more finishes inside the top five, four more where he was in the top 10. Only nine times did he finish outside the top 20 during that stunning stretch. He missed one cut, in 2006 at the U.S. Open shortly after the death of his father.

Woods bounced back from that heartache to win four of the next eight majors.

And, then, his body betrayed him.

Knee surgery knocked him out for the rest of 2008. These days, he’s trying to come back from two surgeries on his wobbly back, not exactly where a golfer who just turned 40 wants to be at this point in his career.

But we can always fall back on those memories from the first 16 months of the last decade, when Woods not only romped to four straight major titles over two calendar years – the Tiger Slam – he thoroughly demolished anyone who got in his way. His 15-stroke win at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach will forever be the standard for what golf can be at its closest point to perfection.

“He inspired all of us to play golf like he did,” Scott says. “I feel so fortunate to have played practice rounds with Tiger at majors in the years 2000, 2001 and really see up close what is the best golf I’ve ever seen. Just head and shoulders above the rest.”

That’s what we’ll miss next week at the Masters.

Whether Woods shows up or not.

The opening line in a book David Owen wrote 17 years ago about the Masters captures why the anticipation for the first major at Augusta National.

“The modern golf season never ends, but it does begin.”

That rings particularly true this year.

The fall is forgotten. The preliminaries are over. For some, the Masters could not get here soon enough.

It felt that way when the 2015 majors ended last August with Jason Day winning the PGA Championship in a one-sided duel and a record score to par. Jordan Spieth opened the new year with an eight-shot victory in Hawaii, right as the Masters began airing TV promos with those moody piano notes.

For three months, just about every tournament was a reminder of the showdown looming amid the azaleas and dogwoods.

“I don’t know if it’s a free-for-all,” Adam Scott said. “I think it’s an exciting lead-up to the Masters with a lot of top players in great form and a lot of stories there, probably more so than the past few years.”

The top of golf is so tight at the moment that Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook has three co-favorites – Day, Spieth and Rory McIlroy – with 7-1 odds to win the green jacket. All in their 20s, they have won five of the last six majors, which is why they have been referred to as the modern version of the “Big Three.”

Only now they have company.

Bubba Watson won at Riviera, reviving memories of his two Masters victories in the last even-numbered years. Scott tabbed him as the favorite, even as the Australian won in back-to-back weeks to start the Florida swing. And then along came Day, who won his last two starts before the Masters to return to No. 1 in the world.

“I am looking forward to it. I know it’s one tournament that I’ve always wanted to win, so the motivation and the want … there’s no problem,” Day said. “I can’t get comfortable with how I’m playing right now. I can’t get lazy, because I’ve got to understand that what I’m doing is working. So I’ve got to keep working … and then stay focused and hopefully put on the green jacket.”

The only player among the top six in the world without a victory is McIlroy, who has had three good chances to win in the last six weeks. He returns to Augusta with another shot at becoming only the sixth player in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

Not to be overlooked is three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who narrowly missed winning at Pebble Beach and looks rejuvenated at 45.

“There are more guys in the conversation,” Scott said. “There are so many that I’d be surprised if some or all of these guys aren’t there come Sunday, from Bubba to Jason to Jordan.”

So many top players are performing so well that this will be the smallest field at Augusta National in at least 10 years. PGA Tour winners automatically qualify for the Masters, but in the 12 tournaments to start the year, every winner already was eligible except for Augusta resident Vaughn Taylor, who won at Pebble Beach as an alternate.

Seven of the top 14 players in the world already have won this year.

That’s not much different from four years ago when eight of the top 20 had won early in the year, including McIlroy, Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Only one of those players, Mickelson, was in contention that year.

For all its magic, Augusta manages to keep everyone guessing. The last No. 1 player to win the Masters was Woods in 2002.

The original “Big Three” featured Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, and it was as much about marketing as the majors they won. It’s too soon to hang that tag on players still in their 20s, though all of them have won majors and have traded turns at No. 1.

The youth movement in golf, however, is as much about depth.

“I think you’ve got more good players right now than you’ve had in a while,” Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus and Woods are the only players over the last 50 years to have won back-to-back heading into Augusta, and then won the Masters. That’s what is facing Day, the 28-year-old Australian who has an exquisite short game to complement his power.

His victories have taken a little attention away from Spieth, who is chasing his own slice of history as he tries to join Nicklaus, Woods and Nick Faldo as the only Masters champions to repeat. The 22-year-old is playing the Masters for only the third time.

As a rookie, he had a two-shot lead with 11 holes to play and was on the cusp of becoming the youngest Masters champion until Watson chased him down. Last year, Spieth was so dominant in his wire-to-wire victory that he set the 36-hole record, tied the 72-hole record and never let anyone closer to him than three shots over the final three days.

Expectations are one thing. The real hurdle for Spieth is the competition.

“I think this year’s Masters might be the hardest one to win in quite a while as far as the depth of the field and the quality of golf being played by people who play Augusta National very well,” Spieth said. “Everybody wants it badly.”

HOUSTON – Charley Hoffman birdied half the holes on the Golf Club of Houston course Thursday and had just a single bogey to shoot an 8-under-par 64 and take the first-round lead of the Shell Houston Open, putting himself in contention to claim the final spot in next week’s Masters.

But the hard work lies ahead for Hoffman. The three-time PGA Tour winner from San Diego hasn’t held up well on the weekends this season after giving himself good opportunities to claim titles. Closing 75s in his last two stroke-play tournaments even knocked him out of likely top-10 finishes.

Graham DeLaet was the top Canadian at 5-under. The Weyburn, Sask., native was tied for 10th place. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 68 and Brantford, Ont., product David Hearn was at 2-under. Mike Weir had a 4-over 76.

“I’ve shot 3- or 4-over on the back nine on Sunday when I’ve been going from winning the golf tournament to 12th or 15th place,” Hoffman said. “I’ve played fairly solidly from the start of the year to now and haven’t been missing cuts, but I haven’t been able to put four rounds together. Hopefully I can do that this week.”

Hoffman birdied the first four holes of his back nine – the course’s front nine – then added another birdie on No. 8 to break out of what had been a four-way tie for first place with Dustin Johnson, Roberto Castro and Scott Brown, who all shot 65s.

“You always want to get off to a good start in any tournament,” Johnson said. “Today I got off to a great start. I still feel like I’m playing really solid, rolling the putter good.”

His round included two bogies but ended with an eagle on 8 and a birdie on 9. Regarding the former, he said: “I hit two great shots. Hit a perfect drive down the left side of the fairway and a great 4-iron in there to about 10 feet, then holed the putt.”

Castro, playing consistently from start to finish, produced seven birdies and no bogies while missing only two fairways. It was a marked turnaround from what he called “rough Thursdays in my last two tournaments,” when he opened with 75s in the Valspar Championships and the Arnold Palmer.

Former Houston champion Johnson Wagner, who won in 2008 and got into a Sunday playoff here last spring, was another swing back at 66, tied with four other players. Among the large group finishing with 67s was the reigning Masters champion Jordan Spieth, who was also part of the Sunday playoff in 2015 with Wagner and eventual champion J. B. Holmes.

Holmes pulled out of this year’s field on Wednesday night because of a shoulder problem.

Spieth, who hasn’t won a title since January and surrendered his world No. 1 ranking to Jason Day on Sunday when Day won the World Golf Championships Match Play competition in Austin, said he “drove the ball fantastic today (and) really felt comfortable on my iron shots. I had very, very good control of my golf game and my short game was there today as well.”

Former Masters champions Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel and Angel Cabrera all posted 69s.

The 39-year-old Hoffman has been on the PGA Tour since 2006 and won most recently two years ago in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

“I was really relaxed and played well today,” Hoffman said, while adding, “but I learned a long time ago you enter golf tournaments to try to win them, not try to make cuts. Making cuts is a great thing, but we play to win, not to base a resume off cuts.”

TORONTO – With exclusive Canadian coverage of The Masters coming to CTV and TSN, the networks announced the addition of decorated Canadian golfer Mike Weir as a special guest analyst for this year’s Tournament.

As the only Canadian to ever win the prestigious Green Jacket, Weir will compete in the 80th edition of The Masters from April 7-10. Following each round at Augusta National Golf Club, Weir will join CTV and TSN to contribute his unique perspective on the Tournament. Weir will also appear as part of daily panels on TSN’s Sportscentre.

“The Masters is hallowed ground for professional golfers and fans alike, and playing in the Tournament is an experience like no other,” said Weir. “I’m very excited to work with the CTV and TSN team as an analyst to share the player’s perspective on what it’s like to compete in one of my favourite events.”

“Mike is a perfect fit to join our newly expanded coverage of The Masters on CTV and TSN,” said Mark Milliere, Senior Vice-President of Production, TSN. “By competing on the course and moving directly to the analyst’s chair after each round, Mike offers a completely unique perspective on The Masters for Canadian golf fans. We’re absolutely thrilled to have him with us for this prestigious Tournament.”

Over his 24-year professional golf career, Weir has captured 15 career victories, highlighted by his dramatic playoff win at The Masters in 2003. His breakthrough year on the PGA Tour earned him the 2003 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete of the year and the Lionel Conacher Award, given to Canada’s top male athlete of the year, an award he previously won in 2000 and 2001.

In 2009, Weir was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada and inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Weir has used his success as a platform for helping other families in need with the creation of the Mike Weir Foundation in 2004.

Tiger Woods is going back to the PGA Tour event at Riviera for the first time since 2006.

The Tiger Woods Foundation will become the host organization that runs the tournament, which has Hyundai Motor America as the new title sponsor. The PGA Tour said Tuesday that Woods will be the tournament host and become actively involved in the tournament.

Riviera is where Woods, who grew up about 45 minutes away, made his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur. He missed the cut with rounds of 72-75.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for my foundation,” Woods said in a statement. “This is the first PGA Tour event I ever played, and it means a lot to contribute to a community that has supported me and my foundation for more than 20 years. I’m committed to playing in my foundation’s events, and it will be exciting to return to Riviera.”

Still to be determined is the name of the tournament.

Hyundai previously was the title sponsor at the winners-only event at Kapalua that starts the year (Hyundai Tournament of Champions). It takes over in Los Angeles after Northern Trust moved its title sponsorship to the New York area for the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.

“Recognizing Tiger’s ongoing connection to his home state through his foundation, we saw an opportunity to correspond the transition of the tournament operation with the new long-term sponsorship by Hyundai,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said.

Hyundai Motor America has headquarters in southern California.

The question is when Woods will play. Because of two back surgeries late last year, he has not competed since August and has not indicated when he will return. Riviera has become the anchor of the West Coast Swing toward the end of February.

Woods has never missed one of his foundation events except for injury. Along with playing, he donates all his earnings to the foundation.

He last played what was then the Nissan Open at Riviera in 2006 when he narrowly made the cut and withdrew the next day with the flu.

Taking over at Riviera means the Tiger Woods Foundation still has three PGA Tour events it runs – the Quicken Loans National in the Washington, D.C., area, and the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

It previously had the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston. The tour said its management would take over Boston in 2017, and that the foundation will keep its charitable commitment to the New England area through the Earl Woods Scholarship Program. There are 15 scholars from the New England region, with five more scheduled for the next school year.

AUSTIN, Texas – The fortunes of Jason Day turned as quickly as the biggest match he faced in winning the Dell Match Play.

Just two weeks ago, he arrived at the Arnold Palmer Invitational without having won in six months and showing few signs that he was ready to crank up that fearsome combination of long ball and short game.

Day now heads to the Masters as the man to beat.

Coming off a one-shot victory at Bay Hill, the 28-year-old Australian overcame a back injury that nearly caused him to withdraw, went far enough in the Match Play to return to No. 1 in the world, outlasted Rory McIlroy in the semifinals and then capped off a remarkable week in Texas by going home with the trophy.

He will head to Augusta National later this week to start preparing. The Masters starts April 7.

“I am looking forward to it,” Day said. “I know it’s one tournament that I’ve always want to win. So the motivation and the want … there’s no problem. It’s been good momentum for me, confidence-wise, over the last two weeks. I can’t get comfortable with how I’m playing right now. I can’t get lazy, because I’ve got to understand that what I’m doing is working. So I’ve got to keep working on the things that have caused me to win over the last two weeks.”

The last time anyone won back-to-back on the PGA Tour was only three weeks ago when Adam Scott won at PGA National and Doral. What makes Day stand out as a favorite is that the Match Play was his sixth victory in his last 13 starts dating to his record win at the PGA Championship last August.

Jordan Spieth’s loss in the fourth round was the first part in Day getting back to No. 1.

Day winning in the quarterfinals was the second part.

As for that big match?

The record book will show that Day defeated Louis Oosthuizen, 5 and 4, to win the tournament. That was never really in doubt. Day took the lead for good on the fourth hole and extended it because he was making putts at Austin Country Club and Oosthuizen was not.

“A top player these days, he always makes that crucial putt when he needs to,” Oosthuizen said. “We’ve seen a thousand times through Tiger doing it. Jordan does it all the time. And Jason, whenever he needs to make a crucial putt, he makes it. You see him this morning against Rory when he made that putt on 18. He’s always been a great iron player. He’s always been a great long iron player.

“And the way he’s putting now, there’s a reason why he’s No. 1 in the world.”

The key moment for Day even getting to the championship match was against McIlroy on the back nine.

McIlroy was on the verge of going 1 up when he hit a magnificent shot into the wind, over the water to the left corner of the green, leaving him 6 feet for birdie. Day missed the green left and faced a downhill chip so severe that he went with a full shot to reduce the roll. It worked OK, but not great, and he still had 12 feet left for par.

Day made. McIlroy miss.

Then, both were in range on the par-5 12th when McIlroy protected against the water and played his shot out to the right. Day was going to do the same thing with a 4-iron when he felt a gust in his face, and switched to a 2-iron. He took a line right over the water, cleared it by a foot and set up a two-putt birdie that gave him the lead for good.

That’s how quickly control in that match changed.

“Once the wind started gusting up, I said, ‘I’m going to change and for the 2-iron and go for the green,'” Day said. “In my head, I was saying that. I pulled it a little bit … and it worked out fantastic.”

McIlroy hit a poor chip behind the 13th green and fell 2 down, and he never could catch up.

“I think the morning’s round was probably one of the hardest rounds I’ve had to go through in match-play format,” Day said.

The back injury was all but forgotten when Day motored his way to an easy victory over Oosthuizen. It was the largest margin in the championship match since it went to 18 holes in 2011. Tiger Woods beat Stewart Cink, 8 and 7, when it was a 36-hole final.

Day’s short game was most impressive. He was just off the green eight times against McIlroy and got up-and-down each time. He did it four more times against Oosthuizen. And yes, he can still hit it a long way. That should work out for him at Augusta National.

“It will be fun to walk through the gates as the No. 1 in the world,” he said.