At the beginning of the week 64 men arrived in Texas with the aim of being the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play champion and now that goal remains in place for just four men as we get set to crown the winner.
The semi-finals, third placed playoff and final will all be played on another long day of golf on Sunday before the champion is crowned. As ever time restrictions will deny us the chance to preview the final but we do have an outright bet into the final four in Bill Haas and hopefully he will make it into the final to give us something to cheer in it.
Haas will be joined by Jon Rahm, world number one Dustin Johnson and the surprise package from Japan in Hideto Tanihara in the final four ahead of what should be a hugely competitive day of golf.
Dustin Johnson vs Hideto Tanihara
Match tees off at 15.00 BST.
The opening semi-final looks an absolute mismatch on paper but Jordan Spieth and Paul Casey are among the men who will tell you that the Japanese player shouldn’t be underestimated in this semi-final. Both have been victims of Tanihara this week and there is the feeling that he will need to be beaten in this match as he looks unlikely to give anything away.
Dustin Johnson has been in supreme form this week. He has played five rounds of golf and is yet to trail in the tournament at any stage which is pretty incredible when you think about it. One of the reasons for that is the front nine plays to his strengths which is with the driver and he has taken full advantage of that all week.
I’ve got to think Johnson will win this match and I fancy he might lead from the start once again. Johnson has won the first hole in all five matches this week and that isn’t a fluke as he can near enough drive the green and the way his short game is that almost guarantees a birdie. With Tanihara potentially going to be nervous early on in this match the 9/4 on Johnson winning the first hole again looks mighty big.
Bill Haas vs Jon Rahm
Match tees off at 15.12 BST.
On paper at least this looks like being the tighter of the two semi-finals and it is an interesting one. Rahm has been a tank all week and has won his last three matches 6&4, 6&4 and 7&5 which illustrates just how powerful he has been. Bill Haas hasn’t been anything like as convincing but he is still here on merit.
I’m already on Haas anyway from before the tournament and I’m not going to desert him just yet. I’ve had this hunch that this could be his week from the moment he holed that monster chip to stay in the playoff on Friday. Rahm has been on fire in the last three rounds but if Haas hangs tough and takes this long he could just force the mistake he needs from an opponent who has barely experienced any pressure recently.
I won’t back Haas again as a win is ideal for my outright but those not on him could do worse than back him in a much more even match than the odds suggest.
WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Semi-finals – Tips
WON – Back D.Johnson to win 1st hole vs H.Tanihara for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with 888sport
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