ATLANTA: Dustin Johnson started with the lead, matched the low round Sunday at the Tour Championship with a 6-under 64 and now is one round away from capturing the FedEx Cup and its $15 million prize.
Johnson missed only three fairways and putted for birdie on all but three holes. It led to a five-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele going into the Labor Day finish at East Lake.
No one was playing better going into the FedEx Cup finale and Johnson has shown no signs of slowing. He was at 19-under par, his fourth consecutive event holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
He converted one of those into an 11-shot victory two weeks ago at the TPC Boston. He lost to a 65 by Collin Morikawa in the PGA Championship and to a 65-foot putt in a playoff by Jon Rahm last week at Olympia Fields.
Now only four players have a reasonable chance of catching him.
Schauffele, a big-game player who won the Tour Championship three years ago, dropped only one shot on the front nine and finished with a 10-foot birdie putt for a 67 that puts him in the final group with Johnson.
Thomas missed a 16-inch par putt on the 10th hole that he careless went ot tap in, bounced back with a 25-foot birdie putt on the toughest par 3 at East Lake and make two more birdies coming for a 66.
They were at 14 under.
EUROPEAN TOUR
SOTOGRANDE, Spain: John Catlin became the first American since Tiger Woods to win at Valderrama, surviving conditions so difficult that he didnt make a birdie in his 4-over 75 and held on for a one-shot victory in the Andalucia Masters.
Catlin won for the first time on the European Tour and denied Martin Kaymer another chance to end a six-year drought.
Kaymer, who now has gone 156 events since his last victory in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, twice had birdie putts inside 10 feet to take the lead. He missed them both on the 16th and 17th holes, and they proved costly.
Catlin made a superb up-and-down from behind the 17th green, leaving them tied heading to the 18th hole.
Catlin was in the fairway and played a fade around the cork trees to the back of the green, setting up a lengthy two-putt for his par. Kaymer from the right rough went into the right bunker and hit his 25-yard sand shot just through the green. His chip to force a playoff stopped next to the hole and he had to settle for a 74.
Kaymer also finished one shot behind last week at The Belfry, another former Ryder Cup course.
KORN FERRY TOUR
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.: Australian Brett Drewitt won the Lincoln Land Championship for his first Korn Ferry Tour title, closing with a 3-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over three players.
The 29-year-old Drewitt shot a 62 in the second round at Panther Creek and finished at 19-under 265. He earned $108,000 and jumped for 73rd to 18th in the points race for PGA Tour cards.
Harry Hall (65), Ben Kohles (67) and Austen Truslow (69) tied for second. Hall finished with a bogey.
Third-round leader Charlie Saxon closed with a 73 to tie for seventh at 16 under.
OTHER TOURS
Tyler Koivisto made a most remarkable debut by closing with a 3-under 67 to win the Northern Ireland Open on the Challenge Tour. A former school teacher in Minnesota, Koivisto only took up full-time golf two years ago. This was his first tournament in an event that gets world ranking points. He won by two over Kristian Krogh Johannessen of Norway. … Kim Kaufman won the Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, for her third career Symetra Tour title. Kaufman closed with a 3-under 69 at Blackthorn to finish at 11-under 205, a stroke better than Robyn Choi and Bailey Tardy. … Rikuya Hoshino closed with a 1-under 70 and won the Fujisankei Classic on the third playoff hole against Mikumu Horikawa (64) as the Japan Golf Tour resumed its schedule for the first time since January.
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment