The victory was the first of Sutherland's career and netted the American the $1m prize.

Ranked 62nd in the tournament, he took the lead for the first time on the 33rd hole.

But he appeared to have handed the advantage back to his opponent on the last hole when a beautiful bunker shot to five feet enabled him to half the hole and take the victory.

For Sutherland it was a chance to repeat his victory in the pair's last match play encounter almost 20 years ago when they were in high school in Sacramento.

And afterwards he said: "I know we played a match in high school. I feel like I'm still in high school right now.

"It might not be an amazing story to the rest of the world but it's really cool for Sacramento."

Sutherland had struggled to find the fairways for much of the 36 holes but took the match as a result of his excellent putting.

McCarron, who had led for much of the day, remained upbeat after pocketing $550,000 for second place.

The 36-year-old added: "I am playing better than anybody in the world right now.

"I felt I played a lot better than my opponent and felt I should have won."

Sutherland struggled to maintain any consistency with his swing on the early holes, missing eight successive fairways.