Monday Finish: Five things from THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK

The first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs tees of in New York at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Only 125 players are now eligible to win the FedExCup and the $15-million prize and with much to be decided in just three weeks’ time, the run to the TOUR Championship begins now. FIELD NOTES: The final field will be decided after the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship… Dustin Johnson looks to win the FedExCup for a second year in a row as he defends his NORTHERN TRUST title. Last year’s win for Johnson came at TPC Boston… Patrick Reed won the last NORTHERN TRUST event played at Liberty National, in 2019. He’s back looking for more magic in Jersey City… Harris English finished second at THE NORTHERN TRUST a year ago. It’s a different course for 2021, of course, but English is playing inspired golf through 2021 and has already won twice… Past FedExCup champions teeing it up at THE NORTHERN TRUST include Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel, and Brandt Snedeker with Justin Rose projected to move inside the Top 125 after this weekend at the Wyndham Championship… The top-5 in the current FedExCup standings – Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, and Jon Rahm – are all ready for their run to East Lake… Abraham Ancer is back in action after his first-career TOUR victory at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Ancer finished tied for second at the 2019 NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 FedExCup points. COURSE: Liberty National Golf Club, par 71, 7,410 yards. The site where Liberty National now sits had previously been many things (including a landfill), but after a $300-million project came to fruition it’s become a solid TOUR stop and boasts some of the best views in golf with downtown New York City and the Statue of Liberty featured prominently. The course, a Bob Cupp and Tom Kite collaboration that features bent grass fairways and greens, also hosted the Presidents Cup in 2017. It underwent a renovation not long after the TOUR visited in 2009. STORYLINES: Only the top 70 are eligible to continue to the BMW Championship. Fifty-five golfers will be eliminated after THE NORTHERN TRUST and will not move on to Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland… THE NORTHERN TRUST is the only FedExCup Playoff event with a 36-hole cut… Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are the only two-time FedExCup winners, but no one has ever won the FedExCup in back-to-back years. Dustin Johnson looks to become the first man to do that… Keep an eye out for Jon Rahm this week, who is playing his first event back on U.S. soil since his U.S. Open victory this summer. He finished tied for third at The Open Championship but then a positive COVID-19 test quashed his opportunity to play at the Olympic Games. He’s back at Liberty National, where he finished tied for third in 2019. 72-HOLE RECORD: 254, Dustin Johnson (2020 – TPC Boston) LIBERTY NATIONAL RECORD: 268, Patrick Reed (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Dustin Johnson (Second Round, 2020 – TPC Boston) LIBERTY NATIONAL RECORD: 62, Kevin Chappell (Third Round, 2013), Troy Merritt (First Round, 2019) LAST TIME: Dustin Johnson’s impressive ball-striking (and putting, and driving distance, and, basically, everything else) led him to finish at 30-under at THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2020. He won by 11 shots over Harris English. Daniel Berger, who finished third, and Kevin Kisner and Scottie Scheffler (tied for fourth) finished 12 and 13 shots back of Johnson’s winning total, respectively. Johnson fired a closing round 8-under 63 and tapped in for birdie on the final hole after a 75-minute rain delay on Sunday. Johnson’s 11-shot triumph was the largest margin of victory on TOUR since Phil Mickelson won at TPC Sugarloaf in 2006 by 13 shots. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 12 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Henrik Stenson delivered the biggest shot on a back nine filled with them, a 5-wood within inches on the 15th hole for eagle that carried him to a 6-under 66 and a one-shot victory Saturday in the Hero World Challenge. Tournament host Tiger Woods was among five players who had a chance to win on the back nine, four of them with at least a share of the lead at some point at Albany Golf Club. RELATED: Final leaderboard Woods fell out with a chip that didn’t make it up the slope on the 14th hole, and he had to scramble for bogey. Justin Thomas had a pair of 12-foot birdie putts burn the edge. Defending champion Jon Rahm, in his final event before getting married in Spain, appeared to seize control with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch to take the lead. And then Stenson struck the decisive blow. From 259 yards away on the par-5 15th hole, he hammered 5-wood and couldn’t see beyond a dune as it bounced onto the green, tracked toward the hole and settled about 8 inches away for a tap-in eagle. That took him from one shot behind to one shot ahead, and he closed with three pars. Rahm had to settle for two pars to close out his 66. Stenson won for the first time in 50 tournaments worldwide, a drought dating to the Wyndham Championship in August 2017. His world ranking plunged from No. 6 to No. 40. But after wrapping up the European Tour season in Dubai last week, he worked with swing coach Pete Cowen and took some momentum to the Bahamas. Patrick Reed, who took a two-shot penalty on Friday after a Rules violation, shook that off for a 66 to finish alone in third. Woods hasn’t won his holiday event since 2011, and he put himself in position with timely birdies while playing alongside Thomas. It looked like quite a battle with Woods setting the pace early, and Thomas catching and passing him with an 8-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole. But that was as good as it got for both of them. Woods tried to drive the par-4 14th hole and wound up in the waste area with a bad lie. He sent that over the green, and his chip up the slope wasn’t hard enough and came back down the hill. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and he holed a 15-foot putt to escape with bogey. But he spent more time in the waste area on the par-5 15th and had to scramble for par, and that was the end of his chances. Woods closed with a 69. The only victory — a hollow one — was finishing with a lower score than Thomas for the first time in some 15 pairings together. Even that required a double bogey by Thomas on the last hole, giving him a 70. “I don’t think that’s how we wanted it to end up,” Woods aid with a laugh. “If I was going to get him, it would have been nice for either of us to have a chance to win the tournament.” U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, ran into trouble chipping up the slope on the par-5 third hole and made double bogey. He never recovered, shot 73 and tied for seventh. The Hero World Challenge was just the first stop for 11 of the Americans in the field. They had a few hours to get changed for a charter flight from the Bahamas to Australia for the Presidents Cup, which starts Thursday with Woods as the first playing captain in 25 years. Stenson wants to patch back his game, and this was a big step. After five straight years in the top 10, the 43-year-old Swede is eager to get back. “It’s down, but it’s not a disaster,” Stenson said of his ranking. “I can compete with the best, and I guess I showed that.”

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