Zach Johnson struggles with putter at World Golf Championships

SAN FRANCISCO - Zach Johnson battled a balky putter and lost his match Thursday at the World Golf Championships Cadillac-Match Play Championship.

After an impressive victory Wednesday against Branden Grace, Johnson struggled in his match against Charley Hoffman.

Asked what the biggest difference was in his game during the two days, Johnson was candid.

'My putter,” Johnson said. 'I hit the ball well enough to win but my short game I would say was pretty average at best.”

Johnson started with a birdie on the opening par-5 first playing downwind, that offset Hoffman's birdie to put them all square to start. But Johnson made three bogeys in holes two through four to go 3-down in the pool-play match.

A couple of bogeys from Hoffman before the turn dropped his advantage over Johnson only 1-up through the front nine.

'I didn't execute early on in the round and it cost me,” Johnson said. 'And that's really what it came down to. You can't do that out here.

'I put myself in a position where I could have won the thing, but I just didn't execute.”

Johnson got the match to all square by winning the 11th and 12th holes.

After halving the 13th, Hoffman and Johnson reached Harding Park's signature 14th hole and both ended up with short par putts.

Johnson missed his downhill 5-footer on the right edge, and Hoffman converted his 4-footer to take the 1-up lead and momentum in the match.

'I missed that short one on 14, and I missed a short one on 10 and those were putts that, when I battled back to make it even, those two putts were crucial,” Johnson said.

Hoffman took another hole on the 16th with a birdie to go 2-up and finished the match on the 17th with a par putt.

Although it was frustrating for Johnson to lose the match, he acknowledged that Hoffman played well.

'He did what he needed to do,” Johnson said.

'He made a nice save on 13 and obviously a nice save on 14. He made them when he needed to make them.”

Johnson plays Jason Day today in the last round of pool play with a tee time of 9:10 a.m. (CDT).