Day: August 28, 2017

The Upshot: Dustin Johnson back on top after win at THE NORTHERN TRUSTThe Upshot: Dustin Johnson back on top after win at THE NORTHERN TRUST

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – News and notes from Sunday’s final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the opening event of the FedExCup Playoffs, where Dustin Johnson prevailed in a sudden-death playoff with Jordan Spieth. They finished regulation tied at 13-under 267, and Johnson made birdie on the first extra hole. For more from Glen Oaks, click here. For the latest on the FedExCup movement, click here. JOHNSON BACK TO HIS BEST What if Dustin Johnson never fell down those stairs? You know the ones. Those few stairs at his Augusta rental home, the ones that jarred his back, threw out his rhythm and caused his season to enter a malaise. Johnson had been victorious in three consecutive starts heading into the Masters: the Genesis Open and two World Golf Championships, the Mexico Championship and Dell Technologies Match Play. He was asked at the time if he felt unbeatable. “If I’m playing my best, yeah, I’ll play against anybody anytime,â€� he said. And then the stairs. He didn’t play at Augusta and missed the cut at the U.S. Open. He was a non-factor at the Open Championship (T54) and didn’t really threaten the leaders at the PGA Championship (T13). He was being lost amongst the Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas hype as the FedExCup Playoffs began. But no more. “I feel about as good as I did before Augusta,â€� Johnson said after taking over the FedExCup lead with his fourth win of the season. “I’m definitely happy with the golf game right now. I was flying maybe a little bit under the radar, but I was struggling. I was struggling a little bit coming in here. I was working really hard on the game.â€� VEGAS ALL BUT LOCKS UP LIBERTY Jhonattan Vegas has made no secret of his desire to make the International Team for this year’s Presidents Cup at Liberty National in New Jersey. The Venezuelan all but locked up his place with another great display at THE NORTHERN TRUST. A final-round 65 catapulted Vegas into a tie for third place at 9 under par. He’s projected to move past THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim and into the eighth spot in the International Team standings. The top 10 players in the standings after the Dell Technologies Championship, which begins Friday, will qualify for the team. It would take superhuman efforts from three players behind him on the standings next week to deny him his place, and even then, he’d still be a popular candidate for one of Nick Price’s two captains picks. “Obviously a good round, under the circumstances,â€� Vegas beamed. “I needed to play well with everything on the line: with trying to make it to East Lake and trying to make the Presidents Cup.â€� “I’ve said it all along, I really, really wanted to make the team.â€� Vegas also jumped from 29th to 10th in the FedExCup standings after his stellar final round. While Vegas all but clinched his spot on the International Team, there’s a tight race for the final spot on the U.S. Team. Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell are separated by just 23 points entering the final week of their Presidents Cup candidacy. Chappell had the edge after a third-round 64 at Glen Oaks, but Hoffman fought back Sunday with a 65 to climb up to T17. While Chappell’s Sunday 70 left him in a tie for sixth, Hoffman still holds a slight advantage. Both Hoffman, 40, and Chappell, 31, are trying to qualify for their first Presidents Cup team. The Dell Technologies Championship now becomes the last stand. “I’ve told everybody that if I play good golf, I’ll be on that team. I control my own destiny,â€� Hoffman said. “Obviously next week I’m going to a golf course I’ve won at. I have good feelings going into next week and hopefully I can hold onto that. If not, I’ll hope for a Presidents Cup pick, but hopefully I’ll make the team.â€� Phil Mickelson, who is hopeful for one of those picks, did little to show U.S. Captain Steve Stricker that he is in top form. The veteran shot a dismal 75 on Sunday to drop to T54 for the week. SPIETH NOT CONCERNED Jordan Spieth says he won’t take scar tissue with him from the New York area after giving up a five-shot lead with 13 holes to play at THE NORTHERN TRUST. The Texan had closed out nine of his 10 previous 54-hole leads, but he allowed Dustin Johnson to come from behind and beat him in a playoff after a costly double bogey on the par-3 sixth and a bogey on the par-4 ninth. Spieth canned an 18-foot par putt on No. 17 to stay tied with Johnson before two-putting on 18 from off the green. “I didn’t lose the tournament. He won it,â€� Spieth said when asked if it might take a while to get over. “(I) played well. Game feels good. And I recognized a couple tendencies that I got into with my swing towards the end of the round that prevented me from hitting great iron shots like I did before, so I know what to work on.â€� Spieth moved to second in the FedExCup standings as he strives to become the second player behind Tiger Woods to win the title twice. CALL OF THE DAY DAY DIALING IN MENTAL GAME Jason Day’s sixth-place finish moved him to No. 29 in the FedExCup standings. It’s the first time he’s been in the top 30 all season. The 10-time PGA TOUR winner and former THE PLAYERS champion was left to lament a few stretches of bad holes at THE NORTHERN TRUST, particularly a front-nine 40 on Friday. He now heads to TPC Boston where he has six top-15 finishes in nine tries including a T2, T3 and T7. The third event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, is at Conway Farms, where Day won in 2015. “Knowing that I’ve got some momentum going into those two weeks, it’s huge,â€� Day said. “I’m much more mentally sharp right now than I have been all year, which is great, even though I am making silly errors. I’m over the ball and I’m actually looking at the target and hitting the shot that I want to hit, rather than just looking at the target and kind of seeing nothing.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Defending FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy battled his way to a T34 finish, some 15 shots outside the playoff between Johnson and Spieth. “My game isn’t where it needs to be. But it’s okay,â€� McIlroy said. “Conditions were tricky out there. My battling qualities, that’s all I really have right now. Sort of a little inconsistent with my swing and sort of with everything else. It’s just a matter of trying to go out there and put the best possible rounds together and see where that leaves me.â€� Luke List recorded two eagles in a round for the third time this season, making 3s at the par-5 third and 13th holes. List also made two eagles in a round at the FedEx St. Jude Classic (third round) and the John Deere Classic (first round). List entered the week tied with Tony Finau for most eagles this season (14), and now heads the list with 16. Daniel Berger was the only player to birdie the 516-yard par-4 opening hole in the final round, holing a putt after a 210-yard approach to six feet. After injuring his right knee when he slipped while hitting a shot on the final hole of the third round, Lucas Glover, who entered the week No. 55 in the FedExCup, received treatment from the on-site Player Performance Center to return on Sunday and shoot a final-round 71. He sits No. 57 in the FedExCup heading to the Dell Technologies Championship. Jon Rahm had a sterling debut in the FedExCup Playoffs. He finished T3 at THE NORTHERN TRUST to move from No. 6 to No. 5 in the standings. Paul Casey’s solo-fifth finish marked his eighth top-10 result in his 16th FedExCup Playoffs event and his fifth top-five in his past six Playoffs event (5th/2017 THE NORTHERN TRUST, 4th/2016 TOUR Championship, 2nd/2016 BMW Championship, 2nd/2016 Dell Technologies Championship, T31/2016 THE NORTHERN TRUST, T5/2015 TOUR Championship). Webb Simpson hit 14 of 18 greens, his best effort in that category this week, to produce a 5-under 65 in the final-round. Simpson’s T6 marked his third top-10 result in nine appearances at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and his second-consecutive on TOUR following a third-place finish at the Wyndham Championship last week. The last time Simpson posted top-10 results in consecutive starts was in 2013-14 when he had four-in-a-row (2013 TOUR Championship/4th, 2013 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open/1, 2013 The RSM Classic/T7, 2014 Sentry Tournament of Champions/T3). BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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DJ top Spieth in playoff at The Northern TrustDJ top Spieth in playoff at The Northern Trust

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Johnson defeats Spieth in epic PlayoffJohnson defeats Spieth in epic Playoff

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Eighteen hours earlier and 2,500 miles away, a boxing match took place that you might have heard about. Perhaps even shelled out $100 to watch. As it turns out, the most entertaining showdown this weekend took place Sunday afternoon at THE NORTHERN TRUST between two of golf’s biggest heavyweights. Dustin Johnson eventually delivered the knockout blow – in actuality, it was a ridiculous 341-yard tee shot that helped set up his decisive birdie – to subdue 54-hole leader Jordan Spieth in a sudden-death playoff and win the opening leg of the FedExCup Playoffs. It was fun for the fans at Glen Oaks, hosting its first-ever PGA TOUR event. It was certainly fun for the two combatants. “A fun show to be a part of,� said Spieth, who let a five-shot lead after five holes Sunday slip through his hands. “I was hoping it wasn’t going to be that much fun.� “We were having fun,� added Johnson, the new FedExCup leader. “Obviously I had a little bit more fun at the end of the day after I won the playoff.� Spieth had entered the final round leading Johnson by three shots, the two separating themselves from the field. While others – namely Jon Rahm and Jhonattan Vegas – tried to get into the mix, Sunday eventually turned into a duel between the world’s 1st- and 3rd-ranked players in the final pairing. After Spieth extended the lead with two birdies, a runaway victory was looming. But he gave Johnson an opening with a double bogey at the sixth. A 7-foot birdie putt for DJ and a missed 5-footer for par by Spieth knocked the lead down to a shot. “We’ve got ourselves a golf tournament,� a fan cried out. Indeed. When Johnson rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the 10th, the two were tied with eight holes left. The fans ate it up. They both birdied the par-5 13th, Johnson missing his eagle putt from 13 feet. Spieth grabbed the lead at the par-4 14th when he knocked his approach to 8 feet. Johnson answered on the next hole from 17-1/2 feet. Tied again. As the two players walked up the 16th fairway, another fan blurted out, “What a show! Boy, what a show!� It got even better at the par-3 17th. DJ found the right-side bunker with his tee shot. Spieth needed simply to find the green for the advantage, but he left the face of his 6-iron open when he tried to mash it. He landed next to Johnson. Spieth’s shot rolled 19 feet past the pin; Johnson blasted out to 4 feet. Just when it looked like DJ would take the lead, Spieth curled in his par putt from the left side. Now it was down to the dogleg-left 467-yard 18th in regulation. Spieth’s drive found the fairway; Johnson, meanwhile, feeling the wind in his face, opted to avoid the 300-yard carry over the water and a guarding bunker. As soon as he hit his tee shot and watched it landed in the thick rough up the hill to the right, he asked himself a question. “What am I doing?� he said, adding, “I hit myself in the worst possible spot that I could in. Even if I aim left and cut it and it goes in the bunker, a much better position than I am in the right rough with 210 yards to the hole. I mean, I’ve got no chance.� After looking at his lie, he decided to lay up. Spieth was surprised. “I would have tried to go for it, but I didn’t see his lie,� Spieth said. Noted Johnson: “I just couldn’t get to the green with the lie I had.� Once they reached the green, Spieth had 76 feet to cover with two putts for par, while Johnson faced a 17-1/2 foot par putt. To no one’s surprise, Spieth rolled his long putt to 2 feet. That essentially forced DJ to make in order to stay alive. It’s not a situation he’s used to. Johnson’s wins have usually been decided by easy two-putts or simple makes. “This was the first one I’ve really had to work at,� he said. He made the stroke. Spieth peered in. From 3 feet out, he thought it was high. Then he looked at DJ. “His body language was hanging in,� Spieth said. “I’m like, ‘Does that really still have a chance?’� Even as the ball was 1 foot away, DJ was skeptical too. “I thought it was going to miss, for sure,� he said. “… It was just not wanting to turn.� But it did, curling in. At that point, it really did seem like a boxing match, as Johnson threw a punch into the air. “That was a weak first pump,� he said. “I was just so happy. I thought it was going to miss and then it went in and – yeah, it was weak, though, I have to say.� Now back to 18 for the playoff. Once they reached the tee, the wind had turned in their favor. Spieth teed off first and found the fairway again. Silently, he hoped Johnson hadn’t noticed the wind shift and would take the same line he did in regulation. “I was hoping that he would line up down the middle,� Spieth said, “He almost can’t hold the fairway lining up down the middle. But when he lined up over there and hit the drive …� Well, it went 341 yards – the longest of any drive at 18 all week. Fans lining the curve of the dog-leg gawked at the length. One volunteer, an older gentleman, said, “I don’t ever think I’ve seen a ball hit that far in my life. That’s insane. The guy’s a freak.� In retrospect, Spieth kicked himself for not taking a similar line. “I didn’t take the chance over the water like I should have,� he said. Thanks to the different angle, Johnson was just 95 yards to the pin. Meanwhile, Spieth’s drive – which he also cranked to 315 yards on the conservative line – left him 174 yards from the pin. And that was it. Spieth’s approach left him on the far edge 25 feet from the pin, a difficult putt. Johnson knocked his 60-degree wedge to inside 4 feet. He was back in the winner’s circle for the first time since his three consecutive wins before the Masters. “I needed it more,� Johnson said. “He just won the British, right? He’s been playing really well. … I definitely needed it.� Spieth was disappointed but not distraught. Johnson had shot a bogey-free 66, rarely in serious danger of making a bogey until the 18th in regulation. “I didn’t lose the tournament,� Spieth said. “He won.� And so did the fans. Unlike Mayweather-McGregor in Las Vegas, the rooting interest was not one-sided at Glen Oaks. The crowd seemed to favor whoever was trailing. They called Spieth “Jordy� and Johnson “Dusty.� A month from now, they’ll get to see both in action again. Spieth and DJ will represent Team USA at The Presidents Cup at Liberty National. “I love playing in New York,� Johnson said. “The fans like me, and so I hope they continue to like me – because if they don’t, that’s not any fun for sure because they can be mean. But … they seem to like me for some reason and I love it.�

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