Expect Jason Day to sleep well tonight. The 26-year-old Queenslander ended his four-year winless drought in America with a drawn-out victory in the final of the WGC–Accenture Match Play Championship, Day eventually outlasting plucky Frenchman Victor Dubuisson at the fifth extra hole. Day played 113 holes for the week – 41 more than at most tournaments – and survived a series of extraordinary saves executed by Dubuisson during the closing stages of the final.

Day pumps his first in triumph after holing the winning putt at the fifth extra hole. PHOTO: Getty Images

In truth, Day shouldn’t have let his opponent linger so long. He led 3-up at the turn in their match and held the same advantage standing on the 13th tee and was still 2-up with two to play. A Dubuisson birdie at 17 and a Day bogey at the last erased the difference and sent the pair back to the 1st tee.

And that’s where the contest began to get interesting. Day was in seemingly winning positions at each of the first and second extra holes after Dubuisson found the Arizona desert on both occasions. Both times, however, the Frenchman struck stunning, death-or-glory pitch shots from the scrub and cacti that rolled close enough to the hole to secure par and extend the match. The second time, Day looked on in stunned amazement while grinning respectfully at his opponent’s uncanny wizardry.

Things turned ugly at the next hole when double-bogeys were enough to halve before Day ended the deadlock with a short birdie putt at the fifth extra hole. He becomes the second Australian after Geoff Ogilvy (2006 and 2009) to win the WGC–Accenture Match Play and Day’s world ranking of 11th is set to surpass his previous high of seventh.

Day poses with the Walter Hagen Cup after defeating Frenchman Victor Dubuisson. PHOTO: Getty Images

Day participated in the two longest matches of the week. Before the 23-hole final, he dispatched Billy Horschel at the 22nd hole in their second-round duel (although Sergio Garcia also required 22 holes to send Marc Leishman back to Warrnambool in their first-day encounter). Day’s path to the final included victories over Thorbjorn Olesen (2-up), Horschel (22 holes), George Coetzee (3&1), Louis Oosthuizen (2&1) and Rickie Fowler in the semi-final (3&2).

FINALS LEADERBOARD

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Jason Day (Qld) def. Victor Dubuisson (Fra)  At 23rd hole

SEMI FINALS

Jason Day (Qld) def. Rickie Fowler (US)  3&2

Victor Dubuisson (Fra) def. Ernie Els (RSA)  1up

QUARTER FINALS

Jason Day (Qld) def. Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)  2&1

Rickie Fowler (US)  def. Jim Furyk (US)  1up

Ernie Els (RSA)  def. Jordan Spieth (US)  4&2

Victor Dubuisson (Fra)  def. Graeme McDowell (NI)  1up