Despite putting with his wedge, Luke List takes Justin Thomas the distance at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Tyson Alexander rallied to win the Veritex Bank Championship by two strokes on Sunday, becoming the first player in Korn Ferry Tour history to successfully defend a title.

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THE OVERVIEW By Ben Everill, PGATOUR.COM Dustin Johnson was ranked world No. 1 when he entered the FedExCup Playoffs last fall – and yet somehow he was still under the radar. He quickly reminded us, though, why he’s at the top by winning THE NORTHERN TRUST – his fourth victory of the season. TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule He will finish the calendar year as the world’s best but should still start 2018 with plenty to prove after the likes of FedExCup champion Justin Thomas continue to get much of the fanfare. In the early part of 2017, Johnson appeared almost unbeatable. He won three consecutive tournaments, including two World Golf Championships, leading into the Masters. Then he slipped down some stairs at his rental house in Augusta and his star fell as well. It wasn’t like DJ played bad, it was just others took the limelight. When this new season started with a final-round implosion at the WGC-HSBC Champions to finish second, new questions arose. Can he maintain his place at the top of the world with the likes of Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm all biting at his heels? Can he take his incredible record to 11 straight seasons since debuting on the PGA TOUR with at least one win? Can he get to Augusta without injury this time around and have a real crack at a second major championship? Can he join the list of FedExCup champions? You wouldn’t bet against him on any count that’s for sure. BY THE NUMBERS How Dustin Johnson ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR. FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: 25th Playoff appearances: 10 TOUR Championship appearances: 9 Best result: 2nd (2016) INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Dustin Johnson in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Cameron Morfit Johnson’s toughest opponent is still himself, or the Golf Gods, or a combination of the two. He missed 16 putts inside 10 feet at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, and still won. But what might have been had he not fallen down the stairs just before the Masters? He WD’d and stalled in the other three majors, and after beating Jordan Spieth to win THE NORTHERN TRUST, and going 4-0-1 in the Presidents Cup, DJ melted down with a final-round 77 to finish T2 at the WGC-HSBS Champions. Already a 16-time TOUR winner with one major, Hall of Fame-bound Johnson still hasn’t gotten fully out of his own way. Scary. Click here to follow Cameron on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton You know you’re livin’ well when the world’s top-ranked golfer sits No. 3 in our series. Hey, whatever. As a great one, he’s a top pick in many draft leagues and that’s all that matters. He’s never had a season in which he’s gone winless, he’s qualified for nine consecutive TOUR Championships and he’s just 33 years old. If there’s a knock, it’s that he’s subject to the occasional balloon of a round and the inability to slam every door, but you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Johnson made few changes to his TaylorMade metalwoods last season. Briefly switched to P730 irons in China but returned to Tour Preferred MB 2014 blades for his next start. First Spider Tour Black putter used in competition belonged to his caddie, and brother, Austin.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. DJ owns monochromatic looks these days. No one wears the tone-on-tone black, navy, and gray looks better than Dustin. Expect him to give us fresh and interesting takes on these looks in 2018 while featuring the latest technology from Adidas. Johnson debuted Adidas’ new TOUR 360 2.0 shoe during his win at THE NORTHERN TRUST to kick off the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs. He will wear this model throughout 2018 in seasonal colorways. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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There is a beautiful unpredictability to golf. Nearly one-third of last week's TOUR Championship field was populated by players making their first career start at East Lake. Each of the last three (and 13 of the last 18) major winners were first-time major champions. And 24 percent of the current top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking were not there when the year began. As the PGA TOUR's new wrap-around season kicks off this week in California, who are some of the candidates to burst into the next phase of their professional careers? Which players will have breakout seasons in 2020-2021? 15th Club doesn't have a crystal ball, but a bevy of analytics can help try to answer these questions. Harold Varner III Statistically, Varner III perfectly fits the profile of a player about to make a leap in 2020-2021. From 2019 to 2020, Varner III improved in all six primary Strokes Gained statistics. That was especially true in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, where Varner III has jumped from 93rd (2017-18) to 60th (2018-19) to 8th (2019-20) over three seasons. Varner III finished a heady 18th on the season in Strokes Gained: Total, a jump of 68 spots from the prior season. Of the players ranked in the top-20 in that statistic, only Harris English (up 82 spots) and Daniel Berger (up 76 spots) made bigger improvements from the previous campaign. An exceptional ball-striker, Varner III hit 73.6 percent greens in regulation since the Return to Golf in mid-June. Only Henrik Norlander (73.8) had a higher G.I.R. percentage among players with 20 or more rounds played. Varner III made the FedExCup Playoffs for a fifth consecutive season in 2020 - nobody should be surprised if he earns his first trip to East Lake in 2021. Will Gordon There were 181 different players who teed it up in 12 or more stroke play rounds from the Charles Schwab Championship through the TOUR Championship. Would you believe that, of that group, it wasn't Dustin Johnson or Webb Simpson who had the best scoring average? It was Will Gordon, at 68.17. Gordon made the most of his opportunities in 2019-20, finishing in the top 25 four times in just 11 starts. That included his breakout week at the Travelers Championship, where he finished tied for third and earned Special Temporary Membership for the rest of the season. From there, he earned more than enough points to acquire full status for 2020-2021. Gordon built a strong statistical resume, too. He ranked fourth on TOUR in greens in regulation in 2019-2020, 14th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, and 17th in driving distance. Also boasting tons of clubhead speed - only Cameron Champ had a higher average on TOUR last season - Gordon could have a successful '20-21. Corey Conners A winner once already on TOUR, Corey Conners is one club away from being a force. Let's start with the good stuff: After leading the TOUR in greens in regulation in 2018-2019, he ranked sixth in 2019-2020. For the second consecutive season, Conners ranked in the top-15 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach. From the resumption of play at Colonial through the TOUR Championship, Conners ranked 9th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 11th in Approach. Now the bad stuff: For the second year in a row, Conners ranked precisely 181st in Strokes Gained: Putting. Only six players on TOUR averaged more putts per round than Conners did in 2019-2020. An undeniable ball-striking talent, Conners could win multiple times next season if his putting numbers improved to near TOUR average. Cameron Davis The 2020 statistical profile for Cameron Davis, 25, fits the prototypical young TOUR player. He makes a lot of birdies (23rd in birdie average), but also mistakes (99th in bogey avoidance). He is long and bold (top 20 in driving distance, 4th in going-for-the-green percentage), but tends to miss cuts more often than the top players (46 percent of his TOUR starts). These traits are common among talented young professionals. Here's what's uncommon: Davis in 2019-20 was consistent: He had positive Strokes Gained in all six denominations - Off-the-Tee, Approach, Around the Green, Putting, Tee to Green and Total. Davis ranks well above average in five of the six metrics, and is right on the middle line when it comes to putting. With an enormous international win under his belt - the 2017 Australian Open - Davis should pop up on more leaderboards in 2021. Tyrrell Hatton He has five wins worldwide and is ranked in the top 15 in the world, but the numbers suggest Tyrrell Hatton hasn't hit his ceiling. Hatton jumped 36 spots this season in scoring average, up to 10th. His Strokes Gained: Total went from 55th to 8th. Only four players averaged more birdies per round than Hatton (4.58 per round) in the Return to Golf. Maybe most encouraging was the fortitude he showed at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. In some of the toughest conditions in a non-major championship in years, Hatton held on for his first TOUR victory. With five top-ten finishes in majors already on his resume, a first major victory might be next on the horizon.

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