Johnson outguns Koepka in WGC Match Play duel

Former world number one Dustin Johnson recovered from an early deficit to defeat Brooks Koepka and reach the semi-finals of the PGA Tour's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas on Saturday.

Johnson relied on a red-hot putter to battle back from two holes down early on to grind out a 2-up victory over Koepka, who had advanced to the last eight at the Austin Country Club after eliminating current world number one Jon Rahm in the last 16 earlier Saturday.

The 37-year-old Johnson -- a winner of the WGC Match Play in 2017 -- was forced onto the back foot early on after four-time major winner Koepka picked up birdies on the second and third holes to go 2-up.

Koepka's lead was trimmed to one at the turn after a disastrous three-putt on the par-3 seventh hole.

Johnson then drained a 14-foot birdie putt on the 11th to tie it up, and kept the match all square with a nerveless 12-footer on the 12th to save par.

With little to separate the two men down the stretch, the deadlock was broken on the 15th when Johnson brilliantly rolled in a 27-foot birdie putt to take the lead for the first time in the match.

After matching each other par-for-par on the 16th and 17th, Koepka went to the par-4 18th knowing he would need something special to force sudden death.

But it was Johnson who threw down the gauntlet, crushing a drive 353 yards onto the green to set up a birdie that sealed victory.

"Felt like I'm playing really good golf," Johnson said afterwards.

"I like this golf course ... if you're hitting good shots, then you can shoot some good scores. I like the way I'm hitting the ball right now.

"I feel like I'm controlling the golf ball pretty well. I'm hitting a lot of quality golf shots and giving myself a lot of looks. That's what you've got