Johnson win gives himWGC sweep
AUSTIN, Texas Dustin Johnson won the Dell TechnologiesMatch Play withmore drama than he needed to cap off an otherwise dominantweek that made him the first player to sweep the fourWorld Golf Championships.
The scorecard will showJohnson never trailed in any of his seven matches over 112 holes, ending with a 1-up victory over Jon Rahm for his third straight victory that left no doubt who wasNo. 1 in theworld.
The look of concern, especially as Rahm made a bold charge in the final hour Sunday, spoke to a long day.
Johnson was up with six holes to play when the Spanish rookie with a big game and no fear hit a driver over the water and onto the 13th green to win the hole with a birdie. He stuck a wedge close on the 15th for another birdie. Rahm hit a shot through the trees on the 16th and won the hole with a 30-foot birdie.
The rematch Rahm wanted against Johnson, who held him off in Mexico City three weeks ago, ended the sameway. His big rallywas a little short. Playing the 356-yard 18th hole for the first time in competition all week, and needing a birdie to send this heavyweight bout to overtime, Rahmsmashed a driver over the back of the green. But his chip down the slope checked up and stayed short of the ridge, and he had to settle for par.
Johnson came up just short of the green, chipped to 30 inches and rolled in it to complete another bigweek.
“That was a tough day, a long day,” Johnson said. “I'm proud of the way I played, the way I hung in there.”
Johnson became just the second player in the 19-year history of this event to never trail the entireweek.
Luke Donald did it in 2001, but that was before round-robin play and so Donald played only 18-hole matches thatweek.
Not only did Johnson never trail, he led in 94 percent of the holes he played. Donald was ahead in 91 percent of his matches.
Johnson previously won the Mexico Championship earlier this month (and Cadillac Championship at Doral in 2015), the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in 2013 and the Bridgestone Invitational last summer at Firestone.
That gives him fiveWorld Golf Championships, well short of the 18 that Woods won. Woods only played the HSBC Champions twice after it became a WGC event in 2009. six