The 22nd-ranked Poulter, who defeated top-ranked Lee Westwood in the last 16, pulled clear of his Ryder Cup teammate by winning two of the last four holes with birdies in a scrappy final in Andalusia.
“It’s a nice boost. Questions have been asked of me over the last five months,” said Poulter, who sealed his first tournament victory in 2011 and picked up a winner’s check for 800,000 euros ($1.14 million).
The second-ranked Donald would have toppled Westwood as No. 1 if he had won the tournament but he missed his chance — just like he did last month when losing a playoff to Brandt Snedeker at The Heritage in South Carolina.
“Ian took his opportunities and I didn’t,” Donald said. “It leaves a sour taste in my mouth. But I just ran out of steam a little bit.”
Poulter became the first player to win both Match Play titles either side of the Atlantic — he won the Accenture version last year. Donald won the 2011 edition of that tournament in Arizona in February.
Poulter, who beat Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts at the first playoff hole in the second semifinal earlier Sunday, had been taken to at least 18 holes in his previous five matches on the Finca Cortesin course this week, while Donald had marched relentlessly to the final despite struggling with a throat infection.
But Donald never found his top form against Poulter, making just one birdie — at the 6th — and four bogeys.
Poulter went 1 down on the eighth when, after slicing his tee shot into the bushes at the side of the fairway, he slipped down a bank trying to thrash away his second shot.
He got up unscathed to promptly concede the hole, shared the next three holes and then drained a 45-foot putt on the 12th green to draw level.
Birdies for Poulter at the 14th and 16th sealed Donald’s fate.
Sybase Match Play Championship
In Gladstone, New Jersey, Angela Stanford birdied four of the final five holes to beat Paula Creamer 2-up and set up an all-America semifinal with Cristie Kerr in the Sybase Match Play Championship.
Top-seeded Na Yeon Choi of South Korea will face No. 3 Suzann Pettersen of Norway in the other semifinal Sunday morning at Hamilton Farm Golf Club.
The championship in the $1.5 million tournament will be decided Sunday afternoon, with Stanford looking to reach the final for the second straight year. She lost to Sun Young Yoo last year.
Kerr, the No. 3 seed who hasn’t played more than 16 holes in any match, beat Ai Miyazato 3 and 2. Choi beat Sophie Gustafson 2-up, and Pettersen holed an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to edge top-ranked Yani Tseng 1-up.
In the third round in the morning, Gustafson beat Michelle Wie 1-up.
