ATLANTA – It’s tough enough beating world No. 1 Dustin Johnson when he’s missing fairways and scrambling for his golf life.
But when his iron game is dialed in and he’s finding the short grass off the tee with his prodigious power, plus has the putter working and tosses in a chip-in or makes a putt from off the green … well, good luck.
And your odds of toppling him become jarringly longer when he’s sitting on a substantial lead with just 18 holes to play.
But that’s the taxing scenario Johnson’s desperate pursuers are facing after he posted a sizzling 6-under-par 64 in Sunday’s third round of The Tour Championship to move to 19 under and 5 shots clear of the field.
His 64 matched the low round of the day and equaled the low round in his career here at East Lake Golf Club. Johnson started the tournament at 10 under due to the staggered scoring format and has shot 67-70-64 to take command of the final event of the season and of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
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And he’s a mere 18 holes from a $15 million paycheck that is awarded the victor.
“To be the FedEx Cup champion is something that I want to do,” Johnson said. “It’s something that I want on my resume when I quit playing golf. It means a lot to me. Obviously I had a chance to win it a few years ago.
“I control my destiny. I need to go out and just play like I did today. Obviously I’m swinging good. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the game. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
After his second round, he made a quick trip to the range to hit a small bucket of balls and found something ajar with his setup when he had driver in his hand. He sure fixed it. A day after hitting just two fairways on a course that rewards accuracy off the tee, Johnson started finding fairways, unloading with all his ample ammo and in the process left his foes needing to work hard on Labor Day to run him down.
“He’s showcased what he can do,” world No. 10 Xander Schauffele said. “If he does what he normally does, it’s going to be almost impossible to catch him. I can try and influence him, which he probably won’t really care about. If I birdie the first three holes it’s not going to faze him. It’s DJ. We’ve seen him do it for 20 plus years now, and I just have to try and be better.”
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Schauffele and world No. 3 Justin Thomas are tied for second at 14 under – Schauffele shot 67 and Thomas 66 and both lost ground. World No. 2 Jon Rahm shot 66 and will start six back. Reigning PGA Championship winner and world No. 5 Collin Morikawa shot 67 and will start seven back.
Defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy, who became a father for the first time on Monday, shot 70 and is 11 shots behind.
“It wasn’t easy today. It’s still East Lake. But anything can happen around this course,” Thomas said. “You can shoot 63 or 64 and you can shoot 73 or 74 very easily. I just need to hope that tomorrow is my 63 or 64.”
En route to his 64, Johnson hit the first three fairways in regulation and 11 in all – four more than he did in the previous two rounds combined. He hit 13 greens in regulation that led to six birdies. When he missed the green at the 12th, he rolled in a 24-footer from off the green for another birdie.
“Well, we’re going to need Dustin to not have a good day,” Rahm said about his chances of catching Johnson. “I need to shoot at least a 5-under round which is not easy. But the one good thing I have going for me is we’re here to win, so tomorrow is a green light for everything.”
Trouble is, Johnson hasn’t had a bad day in a long time. In his last three starts heading into East Lake, he tied for second in the PGA Championship; won the Northern Trust by 11, shooting 30 under; and lost in a playoff last week to Rahm in the BMW Championship.
He’s now held or shared the 54-hole lead his past four starts.
“Obviously the game is in good form. I’ve got a lot of confidence in everything I’m doing right now,” Johnson said. “I’ve played well over the last four events and I’m comfortable in the spot that I’m in. Even the two Sundays where I didn’t win I felt like I played really solid rounds. Just a couple guys played a little bit better. Tomorrow is more of the same. I just need to go out and focus on what I’m doing and try and shoot the lowest score I can.”
Harris English, who was the man 11 shots behind Johnson in second place at the Northern Trust, is now 13 shots back in The Tour Championship.
“There’s really nothing you can do about it. I saw he hit two fairways yesterday and still shot what he did,” English said. “If he hits the ball like everybody knows he can and the way he’s putting, it’s hard to stop.
“Those guys trying to chase him down, they’re probably going to have to shoot 6-, 7-under (Monday) to have a chance, because he’s not just trying to win, he’s trying to beat everybody by 10 shots.”
He’s halfway there.
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