No repeat title for Johnson after 2nd loss
CARY, North Carolina: Defending champion Dustin Johnson will not advance to the knockout phase of the WGCMatch Play after suffering a second straight defeat in Texas yesterday.
After losing his opening match to Austrian Bernd Wiesberger on Thursday, the world No 1 slumped to a 4 and 3 defeat by Canadian Adam Hadwin at Austin Country Club.
Spaniard Jon Rahm, the beaten finalist last year, is another player making an early exit after failing to win for the second day in a row but Rory McIlroy bounced bounced back from an opening loss to beat Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas 2 and 1.
The fourtime major champion could still win his group but needs to beat American Brian Harman today.
World No 4 Jordan Spieth remained perfect with a 4 and 2 win over China’s Li Haotong.
Johnson never led against Hadwin, who was surprised by his opponent’s lacklustre form.
‘‘I played extremely solid all day,’’ Hadwin told Golf Channel. ‘‘I made the putts from five to seven feet [1.5 to 2.1m] when I needed to for par to keep the momentum on my side.
‘‘I really expected Dustin to play a lot better than he did. I think everybody did coming in this week. Just a few putts he missed and here we are,’’ he added.
‘‘I kept putting the pressure on him. He needed to play well in order to come back.’’
Hadwin faces Wiesberger today while Johnson plays Kevin Kisner, who still has a chance of topping the group and being among the 16 players to advance to the knockout phase.
Rahm, meanwhile, was beaten 1up by American Chez Reavie, a result which sealed the Spaniard’s fate following his half with Keegan Bradley on Thursday.
Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat (200) leads the group after beating Bradley 1up.
Spieth enjoyed his second straight win but is not assured of winning his group as Patrick Reed is also 200 after beating South African Charl Schwartzel 1up.
Reed won in style when his ball struck the pin with his approach at the 18th, settling an inch away for a conceded birdie.
Spieth and Reed, teammates on the US Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup squads, meet today to determine who advances.
World No 2 Justin Thomas also scored a second straight win yesterday, beating Patton Kizzire 3 and 1, and will meet Italian Francesco Molinari today. The Italian has also won his opening two games. — Reuters