Poulter earns first U.S. win

Ian Poulter now has something more stylish that anything in his wardrobe.

Dressed in pink on a chilly day in the desert, Poulter captured the biggest victory of his career Sunday by leading the final 28 holes and beating Paul Casey 4 and 2 in the all-England final at the Match Play Championship at Marana, Ariz.

Along with winning his first World Golf Championship, the 34-year-old Poulter won for the first time on American soil. He closed out Casey with a par on the 34th hole.

Poulter won for the ninth time on the PGA European Tour and moved to a career-best No. 5 in the world ranking.

He earned $1.4 million, the biggest prize of his career.

Known mostly for what’s in his closet, Poulter quickly is gaining a strong reputation for his prowess in match play.

Poulter improved his overall record in the Match Play Championship to 18-7, and was so dominant over the weekend that he trailed for only one hole over the final 50 holes of the tournament.

Casey, the first player to lose consecutive years in the championship match, had to return early Sunday morning just to reach the final.

Resuming his semifinal that was suspended by darkness, Casey won with a par after Camilo Villegas hooked his tee shot into the desert.

Casey won in 24 holes, the longest match of the week. Villegas beat Sergio Garcia 5 and 4 in the third-place match.

LPGA

Japanese star Ai Miyazato rallied to win the season-opening Honda PTT LPGA Thailand, holing a 30-foot birdie chip on the final hole for a 9-under 63 and a one-stroke victory over Norway’s Suzann Pettersen at Pattaya, Thailand.

Miyazato, six strokes behind Pettersen after the third round, was 6 under in a six-hole stretch midway through the round, then birdied three of the last six holes to match the tournament record of 21 under set by Pettersen in October 2007.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot 74 on Sunday for a total of 300.

PGA

Cameron Beckman won the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for his third PGA Tour title, closing with a 3-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over third-round leader Joe Durant and Brian Stuard.

The 40-year-old Beckman, three strokes behind Durant at the start of play Sunday, finished at 15-under 269 on the Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleon course. Beckman also won the 2001 Southern Farm Bureau Classic and 2008 Frys.com Open.

Durant shot a 72, and Stuard had a 66. Skip Kendall (64), Richard S. Johnson (65), Briny Baird (68), Chad Collins (70) and J.P. Hayes (71) followed at 12 under.

Champions Tour

Bernhard Langer holed a 45-foot bunker shot from a plugged lie for eagle to beat John Cook on the first playoff hole in the Allianz Championship at Boca Raton, Fla.

Langer, the German star who lives in Boca Raton, dropped his club and jumped for joy after winning for the ninth time in 48 career Champions Tour starts.

Cook missed a 30-foot eagle putt on the playoff hole.

Langer and Cook closed with 5-under 67s to finish at 17-under 199 on The Old Course at Broken Sound Club. Joey Sindelar (67) finished third, a stroke back.