Johnson holds off Rahm to win title
World No. 1 triumphs in Mexico to join Tiger as only players to achieve back-to-back WGC titles
Dustin Johnson held on to beat Spain’s Jon Rahm 1 up on Sunday to win the World Golf Championships Match Play crown and become the first player to win all four WGC events.
World No. 1 Johnson was 5 up through eight holes but withstood a furious rally by the 22-year-old Spaniard, who was trying to become the youngest winner of one of the elite WGC events.
Rahm’s comeback bid fell short when he was unable to birdie the 18th to extend the match. Johnson rolled in a four-footer for a par to halve the hole and seal the win.
Johnson, the reigning US Open champion, won the WGC HSBC Champions in 2013, the WGC Cadillac Championship in 2015, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in 2016 and the WGC Mexico Championship earlier this month.
His wins in Mexico and on Sunday in Austin, Texas, saw him join Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-toback WGC titles. The victory capped a dominant week for Johnson, who never trailed in any of his seven matches.
Johnson took the final by the throat when he won four straight holes from the third through the six as the evermore frustrated Rahm struggled with the putter.
Sunday’s matches: Final:
Dustin Johnson (USA) bt Jon Rahm (ESP) 1 up Consolation final Bill Haas (USA) bt Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 2&1
Semi-finals
Jon Rahm (ESP) bt Bill Haas (USA) 3&2 Dustin Johnson (USA) bt Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 1 up
But Rahm kept his nerve after falling 5 down when Johnson won the eighth with a par.
And the young Spaniard, who won his first US PGA Tour title at Torrey Pines this year, won the 13th, 15th and 16th with birdies — rolling in a clutch 32-footer at the 16th.
After both parred the parthree 17th, they went to 18 with Johnson 1 up.
Johnson hadn’t been beyond the 16th hole until Sunday. He also had to hang on for a 1 up win over Japan’s Hideto Tanihara in the semifinals on Sunday morning.
“I definitely didn’t play my best today in the first match or the second,” Johnson said. “So, to win both those matches not having my best stuff is definitely a positive.
“And I’m definitely proud of the way I hung in there and played tough and just tried to never give away holes.”
Johnson’s two latest WGC triumphs follow a win in the Genesis Open that propelled the American to No. 1 in the world. He’s the first player since Rory McIlroy in 2014 to win three consecutive US PGA Tour starts.