American golfer Kevin Sutherland is the unlikely winner of the World Match Play Championship, earning his first tour victory Sunday as the 62nd seed at the event in Carlsbad, California.

The 37-year-old Sutherland earned the $1 million prize on the the 36th hole when Scott McCarron missed a putt from 2.5 meters.

The turning point of the long day came when Sutherland was down two holes with 10 to play. His second shot left him under a tree near water, nearly 90 meters from the hole. A great (wedge) shot got him to within two meters of the cup, where he was able to avoid dropping another hole to 45th-seeded McCarron.

The two long-time friends had faced off in head-to-head competition 20 years ago for the Northern California high school title, also won by Sutherland.

On the way to the big win Sunday, Sutherland defeated such notable golfers as third seed David Duval, sixth seed David Toms and 14th seed Jim Furyk. Other stars to fall by the wayside early in other matchups were Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

In a consolation match, Brad Faxon beat Paul Azinger on the 19th hole.

In other golf news, Canada's Ian Leggatt earned his first PGA victory with a two-shot win over Americans Loren Roberts and David Peoples in the Tucson Open.

Leggatt's final round eight-under-par 64 Sunday left him 20 shots under par (268) for the tournament after he came back from six shots down at the start of the day.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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