Johnson moves closer to completing set

World No 1 Dustin Johnson was on course to create history and win his third tournament in succession in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play yesterday.

Johnson, who is looking to become the first player to have won all four World Golf Championship events, beat Japan’s Hideto Tanihara by one hole in a hard-fought semi-final to set up a mouthwatering showdown with Spain’s Jon Rahm at Austin Country Club in Texas.

And the 32-year-old then moved four up after 12 holes of the final against Rahm, who beat American Bill Haas 3 and 2 in their semifinal.

Rahm, who was the world’s topranked amateur while studying at Arizona State University, began the week ranked 25th in the world after winning his first PGA Tour title in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January.

And he could rise as high as 10th in just his second World Golf Championships event, having finished tied third behind Johnson in Mexico earlier this month.

Johnson and Tiger Woods are the only players with four or more WGC titles and although Woods won an incredible 18, the former world No 1 failed to collect the HSBC Champions trophy in his only two appearances.

There was never more than one hole in the semi-final between Rahm and Haas until the former followed a birdie on the 13th with another on the 15th, before sealing victory by getting up and down from a greenside bunker on the par-five 16th.

US Open champion Johnson had appeared in command against Tanihara but needed to scramble a par on the 18th after the Japanese player had missed from 12 feet to force extra holes.