CASARES, Spain — Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts edged out Graeme McDowell to win the World Match Play Championship on the final hole here Sunday.

Colsaerts, who had needed two extra holes to beat 1999 British Open winner Paul Lawrie in the morning semifinals, was pushed all the way by McDowell.

In tricky, windy conditions Colsaerts never trailed in a tightly-contested match and won the 16th hole on the Finca Cortesin to move two up with two to play.

Northern Ireland’s McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, was ready to shake hands on the par-three 17th but Colsaerts missed a routine four-foot par putt to extend the contest down the par-five 18th.

A venomous drive from Colsaerts down the final fairway gave him the advantage and although his second slid into the semi-rough to the right he chipped to 10 feet and then rolled his ball up to the hole for a guaranteed par that McDowell could not better.

Colsaerts’ second European Tour win, after breaking through at last year’s China Open, gave him the biggest payday of his career, a cool 700,000 euros.

“I had to dig deep all day, the conditions this afternoon were brutal and we had to fight and grind all the way,” said the 29-year-old, who has had seven top 10 finishes in 11 tournaments this year.

“I can’t feel anything right now, to have my name on this trophy next to major winner and all these players, it’s a dream come true.

“When you play Graeme in these conditions you know it’s going to be tough because he’s (Northern) Irish and plays lots of links golf. But I’ve been playing well for a while now.”

Asian stars ousted

In New Jersey, reigning US Women’s Open champion So Yeon Ryu of South Korea was ousted 2-up by American Vicky Hurst Saturday in a quarterfinal at the LPGA Sybase Match-Play Championship.

World No. 13 Ryu, an LPGA rookie seeking her first triumph since her major victory last year, lost after a third round that saw World No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan and World No. 2 Na Yeon Choi of South Korea eliminated.

Sunday’s semifinals for the $1.5 million event send Hunt, ranked 37th, against Taiwan’s Candie Kung and American Morgan Pressel facing Spain’s Azahara Munoz. Winners play Sunday afternoon for the title at Hamilton Farm Golf Club.

Kung ousted Tseng 3 and 2 to reach the last eight then outlasted Paraguay’s 41st-ranked Julieta Granada 2 and 1 to stay in contention for her first title since 2008.

Pressel ousted Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist 5 and 4 to book a semifinal date with Munoz, who eliminated American Stacy Lewis by the same score.

In other third-round matches, Munoz eliminated England’s Jodi Ewart 2 and 1 and Hurst ousted compatriot Angela Stanford by the same score. Granada edged France’s 40th-ranked Karine Icher 1-up while Nordqvist beat South Korea’s 10th-ranked Amy Yang 3 and 1, Ryu defeated Australian Katherine Hull 5 and 4 and Lewis advanced 2-up over South Korea’s Sun Young Yoo. — Agencies