Bryson DeChambeau’s unbelievable blast leads to easy eagle

NORTON, Mass. - Difficult as it may be in these unprecedented times of spectator-less arenas to generate spontaneous electricity, Dustin Johnson came close late in Friday's second round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at a TPC Boston golf course enveloped in pulsating warmth. He said he tried to birdie every hole and, good gracious, for the better part of his round he succeeded. If the birdie, eagle, birdie, eagle, birdie start wasn't enough of an attention-grabber, there were two more birdies to make the turn in 9-under 27. Then, to put your interest in a headlock, Johnson birdied the par-4 10th and par-3 11th. It was officially silly, wildly impressive, and seriously historic stuff in the making. To be 11-under through 11 holes and using just 13 putts to cover a whopping 128 feet was taking this game to a level that it had never been. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Scheffler cards 59 at THE NORTHERN TRUST So, when Johnson rode home in seven consecutive pars to shoot 60 and push to 15-under 127 and into a two-stroke lead, he was asked "condolences or congratulations?" No surprise, given his ability to shake things off is on a world-class level equal to his uncanny ball-striking skills, but Johnson smiled, then laughed. Well aware of what had transpired earlier in the day with Scottie Scheffler posting the 12th 59 in PGA TOUR history, Johnson said of bid to match him: "I don't really care. It's a good score. I'm happy with it." Honestly, playing competitor Marc Leishman nailed it when he said that Johnson produced the "easiest 11-under through 11 that you could think of." Yes, there was the 41-foot eagle putt at the 542-yard, par-5 second, and a 20-footer for birdie at the 208-yard, par-3 third. But the eagle putt at the 298-yard, par-4 fourth was from 5 feet, but the other birdie rolls - at Nos. 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 - well, they were all done the old-fashioned stripe-show way. "I was striking it really well," said Johnson, offering a potential understatement of the year, "just giving myself really good looks." Having teed off at 12:44 p.m., Johnson was early in his round when he saw that Scheffler had birdied the par-5 18th for his 59. "Good round," Johnson said to himself. Then he told himself to go lower. He wasn't alone in that sentiment. "We were pulling for him," said Leishman. "Fifty-nine didn't even seem like a question there for a while. (I was) wondering what the lowest score ever anyone had shot." On the PGA TOUR it's 58, by Jim Furyk in Round 4 of the Travelers Championship in 2016, but if the people who were following Johnson along the back nine at TPC Boston would be honest, there didn't appear to be any doubt that Johnson would surpass that. Not when he managed to two-putt from 48 feet at the course's most difficult hole, the 510-yard, par-4 12th. And not when he striped drives at 13 and 14 to give himself birdie tries from 12 and 20 feet. But when those putts leaked wide, you could sense the roll slipping away from. Driving it wide right into thick rough at the 15th, Johnson could do no better than a two-putt par from more than 50-feet. Long and left into a stiff wind at the par-3 16th, it was another lengthy two-putt, this time from 43 feet. So, going lower than 58 was out of reach. But surely, matching Scheffler at 59 appeared a safe bet, given that the par-4 17th and par-5 18th are birdie holes. (They rank as fifth easiest and easiest, respectively.) Ah, but just when you take this game for granted, golf happens. So brilliant with the putter all day, Johnson at the 397-yard 17th missed a 10-footer. He was stuck at 11-under and needed birdie at 18 to shoot 59. He knew what was at stake and didn't run from the challenge. "I wanted to shoot 59. I've never done it." Never? As in ever, even in a fun, recreational round? "I don't think so," he said. "Not that I remember, and I think I'd remember that." Likely what he will remember is a decision that he promptly regretted - he hit driver at the 18th. It's roughly 325 to a swale that runs in the middle of the fairway, a grass bunker, if you will, and Johnson reached it. It necessitated a lay-up, which led to an 83-yard wedge shot that left him a 26-foot putt for birdie. As he had done consistently since the 11th hole, he missed. Johnson confirmed that driver was the wrong club, that he likely could have hit 3-wood and a 6-iron to reach the green in two. But a go-to money shot for him is a "chip driver," a weapon that he uses effectively time and time again, like earlier in the round when he drove the green at No. 4. This time, the shot failed him. That is, if you could say anything failed him on a day when he shot a career low . . . on a day when he pushed to 15-under 127 through 36 holes to seize a two-shot lead over Scheffler and unheralded Aussie Cameron Davis (65) . . . on a day when he made a case for 60 being better than 59 . . . on a day when he did the impossible and plugged excitement into an arena without fans.

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Don't call it a West Coast Swing - that'll come around again as usual in January and February - but the PGA TOUR will be spending the next three weeks in the Pacific Time Zone nonetheless. The stretch begins familiarly with the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a fixture of the fall since 1990. Then, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two of the three events on the canceled Asian Swing have been shifted temporarily to Nevada (THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK) and California (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD). Of the trio, only the Shriners boasts a full field of 144 and includes a cut. The next two are 78-man invitationals with no cut. Scroll past the projected contenders for a breakdown of Kevin Na's improbable formula here last year, how TPC Summerlin sets up and more. RELATED: Inside the Field | Preview the course, storylines POWER RANKINGS: SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari, Sungjae Im and Will Zalatoris will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider Conventional wisdom and empirical data often collide at TPC Summerlin. As one of the most vulnerable par 71s on the schedule - it was the easiest of 10 par 71s last season and its scoring average of 68.859 was a record low since its debuted in 1992 - the game plan to hit greens and sink putts is as true here as it is anywhere. However, every worthy course makes available the possibility for the winner to have lapped the field with the putter. Kevin Na proved it before outlasting Patrick Cantlay in a playoff a year ago. TPC Summerlin tips at just 7,255 yards and the greens are on the larger size due to winds that often blow in these parts, but when they don't, the tournament develops into a putting contest due to the preponderance of scoring opportunities. Consider that Na averaged 13.5 GIR per round last year (to rank T46), and he was a hair under the field average for the week. Cue the flat stick, Na's primary weapon. En route to 23-under 261, he ranked second in putting: birdies-or-better and led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, putts per GIR, fewest putts, total distance of putts converted, one-putt percentage and highest conversion percentage from outside 10 feet. Nine of the other 11 who finished inside the top 10 on the leaderboard ranked inside the top 10 in green hit, but only three cracked the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting. Scoring conditions will be favorable during the first two rounds this week before a cooling pattern arrives on the weekend. With it, the breezes will intensify from a prevailing direction out of the southwest, and then shift to push in from the north. Daytime highs will tumble from right around 90 degrees on Thursday to about 80 for the finale. No rain will fall. For the third straight year, the primary rough will be limited to two inches. (It previously was three inches.) The bentgrass greens are prepped to run at about 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter, further favoring aggressive putting. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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