Johnson crashes out

AUSTIN: World No 1 Dustin Johnson crashed out of the World Golf Championships Dell Technologies Match Play Thursday after suffering his second defeat of the tournament.

Defending champion Johnson, who suffered an upset loss to Austrian Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, was beaten 4&3 by Canada’s Adam Hadwin at the Austin Country Club in Texas.The loss made it impossible for Johnson to progress from Group One in the round-robin phase to the weekend’s knockout rounds, with Hadwin — who halved his opening match with Kevin Kisner — assured of finishing above the top seed.

Johnson trailed from the opening hole against 38th seed Hadwin, who set up a simple birdie chance after hitting his iron from the fairway to within four feet.Johnson birdied the fifth to draw level but Hadwin edged back in front on the sixth after draining a 13-foot eagle putt on the 590-yard par-five.The 30-year-old from Moose Jaw went two up at the turn with another superb putt, rolling in a 38-footer.

Johnson then found himself three down after three-putting on the par-three 11th, and his problems mounted on the 13th when his tee shot found the water hazard to help Hadwin go four up.

Hadwin sealed victory at the 15th when Johnson conceded.A delighted Hadwin admitted he had expected a tougher challenge from Johnson.“Obviously I really expected Dustin to play a lot better than he did, I think everybody did coming into this week,” Hadwin said.

“I played extremely solid all day long. I made the putts from five and seven feet when I needed to keep the momentum on my side.“I knew if I played well it would be a good match. And I played well.”