Dustin Johnson withdraws from CJ Cup after testing positive for COVID-19

NORTON, Mass. – Justin Thomas added another big title to a season filled with big moments by outlasting Jordan Spieth and Marc Leishman on the back nine of the TPC Boston to win the Dell Technologies Championship. Two shots behind at the turn, Thomas surged ahead with a short birdie and a 6-foot par save while limiting the mistakes that cost his challengers. He closed with a 5-under 66 for a three-shot victory that was much tighter than the margin suggested. Spieth wasted a start that riled up the Labor Day crowd — birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie — with too many mistakes on the back nine. He fell out of a share of the lead by missing the 14th green with a 5-iron from the fairway. Needing an eagle on the par-5 18th to stay in the game, he pushed a 4-iron into a tough lie in the bunker, blasted over the green and closed with a bogey for a 67. Spieth was runner-up for the second straight week in the FedExCup Playoffs, though that was enough to move up to No. 1 in the standings with one more event before the $10 million prize is decided at the TOUR Championship. Leishman shot 30 on the front to build a two-shot lead, only for it to vanish quickly. He had to save bogey on No. 10 after an errant drive. He three-putted from long range for bogey on the 11th. He found a bunker on the 12th for a third straight bogey. And then he closed with two bogeys that only cost him money. Leishman shot 70. For the 24-year-old Thomas, his breakthrough season just keeps getting better. He won for the fifth time this season, including the PGA Championship for his first major. This one might make him a shoo-in for PGA TOUR Player of the Year unless Spieth, The Open champion, were to win the final two events for the FedEx Cup title. “We’ve just had a great year,” Thomas said. “Obviously, there are two more events to finish it off.” Thomas moves to No. 4 in the world. Top-ranked Dustin Johnson, coming off his fourth victory of the season last week on Long Island, started the final round three shots behind and was one of the few players who was never in contention. He took two to get out of a fairway bunker and made bogey on the par-5 second hole, and he closed with a 73 to finish 10 behind. Spieth was simply dynamic at the start, with no putt longer than 12 feet in going 5 under for the opening four holes to briefly take the lead. Leishman, who won at Bay Hill in March, kept stride with six birdies on the front nine to match Spieth’s 30 and take the lead. Thomas did his part to stay in the game. He could hear the crowd celebrating Spieth’s short birdie on the fourth hole, and then Thomas belted a low slider of a drive that barely cleared the deep bunker, hit into the shaggy collar and hopped onto the fringe. He holed that 30-footer for an eagle, and the race was on. Phil Mickelson birdied three of his opening four holes. He couldn’t keep pace. Neither could Jon Rahm or Paul Casey. The final round was so tight that Thomas, Spieth and Leishman were tied for the lead with seven holes to play. But then it all changed when Spieth missed the green at No. 14, did well to hit a flop shot to 15 feet and narrowly missed his par putt. Thomas steadied himself after his lone bogey on the par-3 11th. Equipped with a one-shot lead because of Spieth’s bogey, Thomas hit a sand wedge to 4 feet on the 15th for a birdie and a two-shot lead. Equally important was his pitch out of deep rough to the right of the 16th to a green that ran away from him. He managed to hit it 6 feet and twice clutched his fist when it dropped for par. Spieth grazed the edge of the cup with a 10-foot birdie attempt on the 17th, and then lost all hope with his approach into the bunker. It was the first time Spieth has finished runner-up to Thomas, his best friend in golf since they were teenagers. Kevin Chappell bogeyed his last hole and still managed to nudge Charley Hoffman by a fraction of a point to earn the 10th and final automatic spot on the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup. Stewart Cink closed with a 68 to finish 12th, more than enough for him to advance to the third FedExCup Playoff event outside Chicago for the first time in seven years. Emiliano Grillo and Rafa Cabrera Bello also moved into the top 70 to advance to the BMW Championship in two weeks.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Webb Simpson shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday to break out of a crowd and take the third-round lead at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. At 9-under 201, Simpson was two strokes ahead of Danny Lee and Paul Casey after both of them made long birdie putts at the 18th hole. Stewart Cink and Kevin Kisner were three strokes off the lead. Part of a four-way tie for the 36-hole lead, Simpson went ahead alone to stay after consecutive birdies to start his back nine. He made a 6-foot birdie putt at the 387-yard 10th and a 12-footer at the 630-yard 11th before finishing with seven consecutive pars. It is only the second time in 12 years at DEAN & DELUCA for the 54-hole leader to have more than a one-stroke advantage. Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot a 68 with a caddie switch after making the turn, and was at 4 under. Spieth’s regular caddie, Michael Greller, left the course after 11 holes because of heat exhaustion on a steamy day with temperatures in the 90s and the heat index higher than that. Damon Goddard, the personal trainer for the player and the caddie, carried the bag the rest of the round — a stretch when Spieth had a bogey and two birdies. Lee and Kisner also were tied for the second-round lead, along with Scott Piercy, whose shot 72 to fall five strokes back. After three birdies and three bogeys his first eight holes Saturday, Lee had a steady stream of pars until finishing with a 16-foot birdie for a round of 69. Casey, who shot 68, was alone in second for only a couple of minutes. He made a nearly 25-foot birdie putt that had just enough speed to fall into the cup at No. 18, while Lee was playing in the group behind him. Casey was 1 over for the day without a birdie until starting his back nine with three birdies in a four-hole stretch that included a bogey. Piercy was still within a stroke of the lead at 8 under after a par-saving 13-foot putt at the 12th hole after driving into the rough and hitting his approach in a greenside bunker there. Piercy then promptly hit his tee shot at the par-3 13th into the pond on way to a double-bogey. He followed with another bogey at 15 when he drove into the rough and then hit into a greenside bunker, and did the same at No. 18. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open winner playing in the final group, started the round with birdies at the first two holes. He gave one of those back with a bogey at the par-3, 192-yard No. 8 after missing the green with his tee shot. Since losing a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at Phoenix, Simpson had missed four of nine cuts before this week. The four-time PGA TOUR winner’s best finish in that stretch was a tie for 11th at the RBC Heritage.

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From an equipment standpoint, two bags more or less dominate the conversation: those of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The chatter and details around “WITBâ€� for the two can be found on multiple platforms; broad strokes are no longer a mystery for their fan. RELATED: How to watch: Capital One’s The Match | How it works: Capital One’s The Match | Deep dive into Tiger’s par-5 dominance However, Sunday’s The Match: Champions for Charity gives us an opportunity to compare and contrast not only their games, careers, and impact on the game, but also how each of these titans assembles his 14-tool belt. It’s a tale of starkly different strategies and few similarities … but both very much in line with the nature of each player. Similarities Where these two align is at the top of the bag – specifically, the driver. If you look at the profile of both drivers, each player prefers a low-launch, low-spin profile with an extremely stable shaft tip. What this equals precisely is speed without sacrificing control. One might think Phil with his “just hit bombs” mentality would throw dispersion into the wind in exchange for flat-out firepower, but that’s not the case. The Aldila Rogue Black profile is a shaft that keeps the ball speed up, spin down but offers stability. Tiger’s setup is the same in many ways. In recent years he has gone down 20 grams in driver shaft weight to build a little more speed, but the Diamana D+ Limited profile is as stable as any shaft out there. Hitting it a mile is fun … until you can’t find it anymore. Differences Basically, everything else in their setups is “Odd Couple” material. In a nutshell, Tiger’s setup top to bottom, from a spec standpoint, has changed very little over time. Shafts in all of his clubs have been the same, bag makeup has been the same, wedge setup, putter, lofts, lies, iron style, grips, and on and on. Mickelson, however, is all over the map. You never know what he will put into play each start until the bell rings on Thursday. The only real consistent element is his iron/wedge shafts (KBS Tour V 125), the wedge setup (54, 60, 64 degree), and, of course, manufacturer (Callaway for 16 years). Other than that, it’s anyone’s guess how his bag will look. Bottom line Simply, their respective setups fits the persona of each player perfectly, and we’re not suggesting control over chaos either. Both players are precise in totally different ways. Tiger is more or less joined to what has worked for his whole career. Phil seems to forgo that idea and is able to stay open-minded to new ideas as long as they do what he needs them to do. Make no mistake: For TOUR techs, both of these guys command their very best to get a club in play — the path to getting there is what separates the two. What’s in the bag: Tiger Woods DRIVER: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX 3-WOOD: TaylorMade M5 (15 set at 14.25 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX 5-WOOD: TaylorMade M3 (19 set at 18.25 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX IRONS: TaylorMade P7TW (3-PW) Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 WEDGES: TaylorMade MG2 TW/MT Grind (56-12, 60-11) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 PUTTER: Scotty Cameron GSS Newport 2 GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord BALL: Bridgestone Tour B XS What’s in the bag: Phil Mickelson DRIVER: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (9 degrees) Shaft: Aldila Rogue Black 130 M.S.I. 60 TX 3-WOOD: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero 3+ (13.5 degrees) Shaft: KBS TD 80 TX 5-WOOD: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (18 degrees) Shaft: KBS TD 80 TX IRONS: Callaway X Forged UT (2-iron), Callaway Epic Forged (4-7), Callaway Apex Pro 19 (8-PW) Shafts: KBS Tour V 125 WEDGES: Callaway Mack Daddy 3 (54 degrees), Callaway PM Grind (60, 64 degrees) Shafts: KBS Tour V 125 PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG PM Blade Putter BALL: Callaway Chrome Soft X Triple Track GRIPS: Golf Pride MCC

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