WGC Match Play Day 4

Here are the winners and losers of the quarter finals of the WGC–Dell Match Play Championships. It's all shaping up nicely for the semi–finals......

First off Dustin Johnson defeated Alex Noren 3&2, but Noren pushed him hard.

Johnson’s form has been pretty formidable, and he had led for the 60 holes he had played so far in the event.

And that strong form wasn’t going anywhere, as he birdied the first to lead again, and held that lead for a further ten holes. Then Noren fought back, but it was never enough.

In his post round interview Johnson said:

"Obviously I won the first three holes, but then from there we were kind of back and forth. Like I said, I gave 10 and 11 away. Then he won 12, too. Got back to all square. So obviously it was a lot tighter than I would like to have been standing on 13 tee. But I came back and birdied three of my next four holes and got the match."

Johnson will now play Hideto Tanihara in the semifinals on Sunday morning.

Next up was a victory for Bill Haas over Phil Mickelson with a 2&1 win.

He took the quick lead with a 9–foot birdie putt on the first, but promptly gave it back with a bogey.

Three birdies in the next four holes secured him the lead again, but a birdie for Phil at the 10th and a Haas bogey at the 12th reduced the lead to 1 up.

But Mickelson's only had one birdie at 16, which was matched by Haas, and Haas secured the victory.

According to Mickelson: "He played really well. He made seven birdies today and that's going to be enough to do it. I had a number of chances to keep pace and match him on the front nine. I struggled making the putts that I have been making all week. That seemed to me to be the difference."

Bill Haas will play Spain’s Jon Rahm in the semifinals.

Jon Rahm trounced Soren Kjeldsen 7&5, in a very one–sided contest.

After the game Rahm commented: "The golf I've played the last three matches really has been very impressive even to myself, and it seemed to get better as I played, which is something that doesn't happen often. I felt my confidence was growing. The first few matches my putter let me down, but I was hitting the ball great. Today my putter was rolling. I think that's one of the main why I was able to do it the way I did it today."

Japan’s Hideto Tanihara beats England’s Ross Fisher 4&2.

All square through five, Tanihara then birdied the par–5 sixth, and then won four in a row.

Another birdie at the 13th, from 6 feet, and he was 5 up. Fisher rallied to birdie the next two holes but that was his lot.

Next up for Tanihara will be Dustin Johnson in the semifinals.

So the semi–finals are confirmed as Dustin Johnson v Hideto Tanihara, and Bill Haas v Jon Rahm.

Related:

Heartbreak for Tyrrell Hatton as he's eliminated from WGC–Dell Match Play