Fantasy Insider: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — Dustin Johnson faced long odds all day against Jordan Spieth until the longest drive led to an unlike playoff victory Sunday in THE NORTHERN TRUST. Johnson rallied from a five-shot deficit on the front nine. And on the final hole in regulation, after one of the most powerful players in golf chose to lay up from the rough, his 18-foot par putt swirled around the cup and fell in the back side for a 4-under 66 to force a sudden-death playoff. Returning to the 18th hole, Johnson felt the wind switch and took on the lake with a 341-yard tee shot — the longest of the week on that hole — that left him a lob wedge that he hit to 4 feet. Spieth, who already made his share of big putts along the back nine at Glen Oaks, hit 7-iron to the back collar and missed his 25-foot birdie putt. Johnson rolled in his short birdie putt for his fourth victory of the year. Spieth, who closed with a 69, lost for the first time in six tries when leading by at least two shots. There wasn’t much he could do except take back that tee shot into the water on the par-3 sixth hole after building a five-shot lead. Johnson played bogey-free in the final round, and played his final 29 holes at par or better. “I didn’t lose the tournament,” Spieth said. “He won it.” The opening FedExCup Playoffs event featured two of the biggest names in golf who put on an amazing show on Long Island. “I thought that was a fun show,” Spieth said. “I was hoping it wasn’t going to be that much fun.” Johnson made up a five-shot deficit in five holes, and they battled along the back nine with big shots and big moments. They were tied on the par-3 17th when both hit into a bunker, and Johnson blasted out to 4 feet with an easier shot and angle to the hole. Spieth had 18 feet for par and knocked it in, like he always seems to do. On the closing hole, Johnson showed the kind of golf I.Q. that belies his simple outlook on life. After he sliced his drive up the hill and into a nasty lie in the rough, he chose to lay up instead of trying to hammer a shot to an elevated green. But he made it pay off with a par, that got him into the playoff after Spieth lagged a 75-foot putt perfectly to get his par. They finished at 13-under 267. Johnson won for the first time since he wrenched his back during a spill down the stairs that knocked him out of the Masters and derailed his dominance in golf. He had won three straight tournaments against strong fields until that injury. “I feel like the game is finally back in form like it was before the Masters,” Johnson said. Of his 16 victories, this was the first time Johnson faced a must-make putt on the final hole, and he delivered a par putt that even Spieth thought was going to miss on the high side of the hole. THE NORTHERN TRUST never looked as though it would contain so much drama. Spieth began with a three-shot lead. He two-putted from long range for birdie on the par-5 third hole when Johnson, from closer range but putting from off the green, took three to get down for a par. And then the fifth hole felt like a dagger — Spieth poured in a 30-foot birdie putt, and Johnson missed his birdie from 8 feet. That gave Spieth a five-shot lead — no one else was closer than seven — and it seemed even larger because Johnson wasn’t making any putts. Five holes later, they were tied. Spieth’s tee shot on the next hole banged off the rock wall and into the water on the par-3 sixth, and he made double bogey. On the ninth hole, Spieth took three putts from just off the left side the green, and Johnson made a 7-foot birdie putt for another two-shot swing. Johnson began the back nine with an 8-foot birdie, and they were tied. The closest Johnson came to taking the lead was a 15-foot eagle attempt that narrowly missed. Spieth regained the lead with an 8-foot birdie on the 14th, and Johnson tied him again from 18 feet on the next hole. It was great theater, even before a crowd not nearly as large as other courses used in the rotation, and it lasted all the way until the end. No one else really had a chance. Jon Rahm ran off three straight birdies early on the back and briefly was one shot behind, though he had stronger holes ahead of him and fell back. Jhonattan Vegas was within two shots after playing the scoring holes. Otherwise, it was a matter of who finished among the top 100 in the FedExCup to move on to the TPC Boston next week for the next playoff event. Bubba Watson shot a 70 and tied for 10th, to become one of eight players to qualify for the second playoff event all 11 years of the FedExCup. David Lingmerth, who started at No. 103, overcame a 40 on the front nine for a 73 to tie for 29th and move into the top 100. Harold Varner III, not even among the top 125 going into the final regular-season event last week, made it to New York and then tied for 20th to crack the top 100. The three players who moved into the top 100 were the fewest since two advanced in 2007 when the FedExCup began.

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PGA TOUR LIVE is back. This week's The American Express marks the return of the streaming service, which showcases exclusive early coverage from the PGA TOUR. The broadcast from PGA West will include Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff and tournament host Phil Mickelson. They'll be competing on two courses at PGA West, including Pete Dye's famed Stadium Course and its island-green 17th nicknamed Alcatraz. Related: Tee times | The First Look, How to Watch A star-studded charity match also will be available Wednesday on PGA TOUR LIVE. Country music artist Jake Owen and soccer star Landon Donovan will team with Tony Finau and Paul Casey in the nine-hole match from PGA West's Stadium Course. Mickelson will host the match and participate through "Phil's Challenges." Each player, including Mickelson, will take a shot at a $1 million hole-in-one for charity on Alcatraz, as well. The match will tee off at 2 p.m. Pacific. The Featured Groups, which will tee off at 1:40 and 1:50 p.m. Eastern each day on PGA West’s Stadium Course, are listed below. To prepare you for PGA TOUR LIVE’s coverage, our roundtable of writers convened to answer a burning question around each group. Enjoy. THURSDAY Patrick Reed, Andrew Landry, Gary Woodland (1:40 p.m. ET, No. 1 tee, Stadium) – Andrew Landry has a win and playoff loss in his last three American Express starts. Will he finish as low man in this group? SEAN MARTIN: Landry has nine career top-10s on TOUR. Two have come at this event. But I think Reed is the man to beat in this group. Reed has a win at this event, in 2014, and earned his PGA TOUR card at a Q-School on the two courses in use this week. He has exhibited some incredible consistency lately, finishing in the top 25 in two-thirds of his starts since the start of last season, including all four in 2020-21. BEN EVERILL: Not this time. Patrick Reed is a desert warrior who has surprised us by playing in this desert instead of being in a Middle East one. He should threaten to win the whole thing. CAMERON MORFIT: I'll subscribe to the horses-for-courses theory and go with defending champ Landry here. I know he didn't show much at the Sentry TOC and missed the cut at the Sony Open, but he won here last year after missing five consecutive cuts. It wasn't that long ago that he finished T4 at The RSM Classic. I'll say he picks up right where he left off in the desert and notches another top-10 finish. Kevin Na, Matthew Wolff, Tony Finau (1:50 p.m. ET, No. 1 tee, Stadium) – Na had one win in his first 369 TOUR starts. He has four in his last 55, including last week's Sony Open. Finau has one win in his first 170 starts. How many will he finish his career with? MARTIN: Finau is just 31. He has plenty of time left. I think 10 is within reach but seven seems more realistic. I still think Finau could have some multiple-win seasons ahead of him. EVERILL: Should be 10 (or more), I want to say six but I'm going to take the under and say four. MORFIT: With his talent I would have guessed double digits, but it's just so hard to win on TOUR, and he's let a few victories pass him by already. I'll say he ends up with six wins, and I wouldn't be at all shocked if one of those was a major. FRIDAY Cameron Champ, Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey (1:40 p.m. ET, No. 1 tee, Stadium) – What do you expect out of Koepka this year? MARTIN: He had two top-10s in the fall but also ended the year with a missed cut. I think he will return to East Lake but I'm not sure about a win. He had opportunities to win late last season but wasn't able to capitalize on them. He said Tuesday he feels good, so this week will be an opportunity to show us what to expect. EVERILL: If he's fully fit, a return to some dominant wins. When he's at his peak, he's a beast. I'd love to see him and DJ down the stretch in a tournament at some point. MORFIT: That's just it, Ben - the big IF remains. Is he healthy again? If so, I'd expect him to make a strong run at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines South, which is precisely the type of big, brawny course that sets him apart from the rest. Patrick Cantlay, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler (1:50 p.m. ET, No. 1 tee, Stadium) – More likely to join Cantlay as a winner on the PGA TOUR this season, Mickelson or Fowler? It's been two years since each won. MARTIN: Mickelson finished runner-up not long ago at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, and he has some winning mojo after his back-to-back triumphs on PGA TOUR Champions. His recent results haven't been very good, in part because of his obsession with hitting bombs, but if he could back off the gas a bit, and the putter gets hot, he can pick off another win after age 50. EVERILL: I'm not sure either will but of course both could! I'll stick with youth and say Fowler. His good stuff is more likely to turn up over four days while Mickelson's mistakes continue to get punished exponentially on this TOUR. MORFIT: I'm guessing we haven't seen the last of Fowler in the winner's circle, even though his swing changes have taken longer to solidify than he probably thought they would. It's the old story of working so hard on the swing you neglect your putting, but his above-average ability on the greens will return, and I'm guessing his swing change is pretty close to being complete.

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