Johnson to face Tanihara in WGC Match Play semis

MIAMI, Florida: Top-ranked Dustin Johnson won twice in impressive fashion on Saturday to advance to the World Golf Championships Match-Play Championship semi-finals, where he will face 60th-ranked Japan Tour star Hideto Tanihara.

Reigning US Open champion Johnson defeated fellow American Zach Johnson 5 and 4, then birdied to win three of the last four holes and hold off Swedish eighth seed Alex Noren 3 and 2 in the quarter-finals at Austin (Texas) Country Club.

US 42nd seed Bill Haas held off a late charge by countryman Phil Mickelson to defeat the five-time major winner 2 and 1 and reach the semi-final against 22-year-old Spaniard Jon Rahm, the 21st seed who routed Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen 7 and 5.

Haas and Johnson each led 3-up after nine holes but saw their matches tighten quickly before they advanced.

Johnson won the first three holes against Noren and was 3-up at the turn, but the world number one missed a short par putt to lose 10 and found the water to drop 11, then watched as Noren rolled in a stunning 40-foot birdie putt at the par-5 12th to square the match — the first time all week any foe had been level with Johnson after any hole.

Johnson answered with birdies at 13, 15 and 16 to seal the win.

Tanihara closed the front nine with four hole-winning birdies in a row, the longest putt from five feet, to jump 4-up on Fisher at the turn.