By Brian Wacker
ATLANTA — When did Dustin Johnson know he was dialled in on Sunday at the Tour Championship?

“I always think I’m dialled in,” he said after a third-round six-under 64 at East Lake. “Yeah, from the first swing.”

All the way to the last, too. It’s been that way for much of the last month for Johnson, who has a five-stroke lead going into the final round of the PGA Tour season finale. It marks Johnson’s fourth straight start in which he holds the 54-hole lead and as a result is on the precipice of adding another milestone to a career full of them.

Major champion? Check. No. 1 in the world? Check. Win 22 times on the PGA Tour including in every season he’s been competing? Check.

On Monday, Johnson stands to add another check—a big one—literally and figuratively. If he wins the Tour Championship he’ll win his first FedEx Cup—and the $15 million that goes with it.

It’s the second time in four years that Johnson has had an opportunity to do so. In 2016, he had a share of the lead going into the final round but shot a closing 73—the worst score of anyone in the field that Sunday—to finish in a tie for sixth. He still had a chance to win the FedEx Cup but the math didn’t work out when Rory McIlroy won the tournament to capture both trophies.

“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.

“Obviously I had a chance to win it a few years ago. Not really in control of that one, so it’s a little bit different.”

A lot different. Unlike in 2016, the only math Johnson will have to worry about this time is finishing atop the leader board—the winner of the tournament Monday automatically wins the FedEx Cup, too, thanks to the format change a year ago that gives the top players on the season-long points list a head start.

And over the last few weeks no one has been better than Johnson, who has a win (by 11 shots at The Northern Trust after shooting 30 under) and two runner-up finishes in his last three starts (BMW Championship and PGA Championship). Going back another week (WGC-FedEx St. Jude), over Johnson’s last 19 rounds, he is a 62 under par in that span.

Meanwhile, Monday could be another blowout victory thanks to another torrid week from the World No. 1.

By virtue of leading the points standings, Johnson started the Tour Championship at 10 under, two strokes better than Jon Rahm and three clear of Justin Thomas. He has since climbed to 19 under and going into the final round is five clear of Thomas and Xander Schauffele (who through three rounds has the lowest total score at East Lake 11 under) Rahm is another stroke back after a 66 on Saturday.

“He’s showcased what he can do,” Schauffele said of Johnson. “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.”

Little seems to.

Six weeks ago, Johnson shot a pair of 80s at the Memorial. Then he missed out on adding a second major at the PGA in August, where he led going into the final round only to get beat by Collin Morikawa. And last week at the BMW, he holed a 45-foot putt on the final hole of regulation to force a playoff against Rahm before Rahm drained a 66-footer on the first hole of sudden death to win.

This week, Johnson hit just two fairways during Saturday’s second-round—going well over two hours at one point without hitting one—before finding his swing in a post-round range session. Sunday, he hit 11 of 14 fairways and led the field in strokes gained/off-the-tee on his way seven birdies and just one bogey.

“We’re going to need Dustin to not have a good day,” Rahm said about the prospects of catching Johnson. “There haven’t been many of those lately.

“What can you say? He’s just a great golfer. He’s one of those guys if you give him a couple shots it’s tough to make up.”

The post Dustin Johnson looks tough to beat heading into the final round at East Lake, and his chasers know it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
After yesterday’s 2-for-14 fairways-hit performance from Dustin Johnson, all signs pointed to this becoming a tightly contested golf tournament. To that, DJ said, “hell nah” on Sunday at East Lake.

Thanks to a third-round 64, Johnson now leads by five heading into the final round of the Tour Championship, when he’ll look to claim his first FedEx Cup title, solidify his No. 1 world ranking and probably lock up Player of the Year honors. A pretty nice little Labor Day Monday potentially unfolding.

Here are our four takeaways from Sunday in Atlanta.

Dustin can’t possibly lose, can he?
Well, if anyone can, it might be DJ, who has suffered his fair share of blown leads and heartbreaks over the years. Still, outside of Saturday’s second round, his game has been at peak efficiency for a few weeks now. His ball-striking and the overall approach game is always off the charts, and it’s so good right now that it’s masked some poor driving. But what’s been most impressive over this incredible stretch has been his short game and his putting. Sunday was his best round in terms of strokes gained on the greens, and around the green, he ranks third in the field in strokes gained for the week. When he drives it well, hits his irons like he’s hitting them right now AND putts it and chips it well, he’s basically impossible to beat. I realize “if he does everything well” is not cracking some sort of code, but as many pointed out following his win at TPC Boston two weeks ago, DJ’s “best” really is better than the rest. There’s no chance he loses this thing on Monday.

Chris Condon

Can he save some for Winged Foot?
This has been written before and it will be written again, but it’s so hard to watch Johnson dominate these regular events and then fail to get it done at the majors. There really isn’t much else to say about it. You just hope he brings some of this magic potion to Winged Foot in a two weeks. Adding Winged Foot to Oakmont on the resume would only further his already legendary status, and any DJ critics would be content for the time being. Please, DJ, we can’t accept anymore T-2s. With the Brooks Koepka question marks, Tiger Woods not showing any signs of life and Rory McIlroy still middling, now is the time for DJ to strike in one of the four biggest events. Then again, you could say the same about Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, who are both playing just as well and will be out for blood at the U.S. Open.

Sam Greenwood

Did the pressure get to Sungjae Im?
Maybe I’m drinking the Paul Azinger/Johnny Miller “nerves” kool aid here, but it did seem like the moment got to young Mr. Im. The 22-year-old South Korean native was never able to recover from three early bogeys on Sunday, finishing with a two-over 72 that sent him tumbling down the leader board into a tie for sixth. You can’t help but think we all touched the money a bit on Saturday, when Im was asked what he’d do if he won the $15 million and he responded by saying he’d buy a house in the U.S. and save the rest to live comfortably in the future. You gotta win it first, though, Sungjae.

To be fair, he did also mention he was trying not to think about it, but we don’t blame him if it weighed heavily on his mind Sunday. It’s life-changing money, that kind of scratch. The good thing for Im is he’s still going to make significant dollars no matter how tomorrow goes. That’s the beauty of making it to East Lake.

Ben Jared

Can anyone catch DJ?
No.

(extremely long pause)

OK, we’ll play along. From a betting standpoint, you have to at least give Xander Schauffele a look. This dude is the King of East Lake. If you include his third-round 67, X-man has now shot 69 or lower in 13 of his 15 career rounds at Bobby Jones old stomping grounds. The other two rounds? 70 and 70, meaning he’s NEVER SHOT over par at this course, which is flat-out astounding. As Sungjae Im showed Sunday, if you miss fairways you can quickly make a lot of bogeys. Somehow, Schauffele has avoided doing just that over the last few years, which is why he’s won the event and finished T-7 and solo second in his three appearances.

But can he make up five shots? It’s possible. He’ll need to get off to a very fast start, put some pressure on Johnson and take it from there. At 12/1 odds, it’s worth a sprinkle.

The post Dustin Johnson can’t possibly lose and three other takeaways from Day 3 at East Lake appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Collin Morikawa’s 2020 season had already been overflowing with impressive shots.

In July, there was the 24-foot putt he made at Murifield Village (after Justin Thomas holed a 50-footer) to prolong a playoff at the Workday Charity Open that Morikawa would win on the next hole. (A forgotten footnote: Morikawa clanked one off a flagstick for a near ace earlier in the round and came within a few feet of an albatross on the next hole.)

A month later, Morikawa hit what most will vote as the shot of the year on the PGA Tour when he drove the green on the par-4 16th hole at TPC Harding Park to set up an eagle that helped him win the PGA Championship.

As the leader in a major with all the pressure, Collin Morikawa dials up this drive? Unreal. pic.twitter.com/dy7VUdCwAc

— GOLFonCBS (@GOLFonCBS) August 10, 2020

The thing about that shot was that it came after Morikawa made a chip-in for birdie on the 14th hole that looked like it might be the turning point of the major before his heroics two holes later. But now, well, it’s a bit of an afterthought.

Yet Sunday during the third round of the Tour Championship, the 23-year-old player-of-the-year candidate might have actually topped himself. After his approach shot on the first hole at East Lake Golf Club buried itself in a bunker, Morikawa was faced with an awkward third shot. The ball was nearly hip high by the way Morikawa was standing in the bunker, 47 feet from the hole, and the consensus among the TV commentators watching along was that he would do well to have the ball wind up within 10 feet of the hole.

Apparently, though, Morikawa had other thoughts.

Plugged in face of the bunker … no problem for @Collin_Morikawa. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/QzEv5Qlynn

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 6, 2020

The smile on Morikawa’s face, one we’ve all become pretty accustom to this season, is pretty priceless.

Where this shot is different than the others is that it comes in the third round, with plenty of golf to be played, so its impact on the tournament is unknown (he was 10 under for the tournament, three back of the leaders, after making the shot). But from sheer difficulty, this one might have been the toughest of the bunch.

The post Watch clutch Collin Morikawa hole an insane 47-foot bunker blast from a buried lie appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
ATLANTA — We’ve all been there. Ball in the rough, water to carry to reach the green. No problem. Then, splash. Of course.

Take solace. It turns out even Rory McIlroy isn’t immune.

During Saturday’s second round of the Tour Championship, the Northern Irishman found himself 209 yards from the flag on East Lake’s 18th hole. He’d uncorked a 371-yard drive on the downhill par 5 that rolled through the fairway into the thick stuff. The lie wasn’t great, but he is a four-time major winner.

Then, splat. And splash.

Officially, according to Shotlink, the shot travelled 85 feet, 8 inches, settling in the lake directly in front of him.

RELATED: Dustin Johnson’s driving struggles and other takeaways from Day 2

“My biggest concern was trying to carry the first bunker on the right,” he said. “I knew I needed to hit it really hard and I swung hard at it. I got it like right in the middle of the ball—I felt like if I tried to sweep it, it would be better, and I just sort of came up on it a little bit.

*gasp* Holy McIlroy. pic.twitter.com/KglhLwcJF6

— Skratch (@Skratch) September 5, 2020

“Probably in hindsight trying to take on a little bit too much. So yeah, and then it would have been nice to get away with a par. It wasn’t to be.”

McIlroy went on to make bogey, his third of the day, to close out a disappointing one-over 71 on an afternoon in which he struggled with his accuracy off the tee and with his irons.

If there was a silver lining it was that it didn’t cost him too much. McIlroy, who won at East Lake last year, started the week seven strokes back of leader Dustin Johnson in the staggered-start format. He closed that gap to four following a sizzling 64 on Friday. Now, he trails Johnson by five with two rounds to play.

The post It was Chunk City for Rory McIlroy with awful dunk into water at East Lake appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
With two days of the Tour Championship the books, we’re halfway to the money. While Friday saw the pre-tournament leaders mostly hold their spots atop the leaderboard, a number of players elbowed their way into contention during Saturday’s second round. There are nine players within five shots of the lead, which means there are eight players with an awesome chance to add $15 million to their bank account come Monday evening.

Here are five takeaways on Saturday’s action from East Lake.

Dustin’s driver goes ice cold
During both his 30-under romp at the Northern Trust and his runner-up finish at the BMW Championship, Dustin Johnson drove the ball like an absolute stallion. He said recently that he has his power cut back, which is his preferred shot off the tee, and he has made it look quasi automatic in recent weeks.

Saturday was a different story entirely. After a stress-free start of one-under through five, DJ missed his next 10 fairways in a row—five to the right and five to the left—as he played his final 13 holes in one over par. At one point, the Golf Channel broadcast flashed a graphic showing it had been more than two hours since Johnson found the short grass.

This East Lake layout doesn’t have the bite of Olympia Fields last week, but the ball has a knack for finding gnarly lies in the Bermuda rough, and Johnson’s patchy stretch allowed Sungjae Im to catch him atop the leaderboard at 12 under before Johnson bounced back with a closing birdie to secure the lead heading into the final two days. If Johnson is to right the ship and win the $15 million, he’s going to have to re-discover the cut.

Relatable chunk
Rory McIlroy became a father this week, as you’re certainly well aware. He gave a bunch of super relatable quotes in his pre-tournament press conference—or at least, that’s what I gather from my peers with children, as I cannot speak from experience.

Anyway, he did something else super-relatable on Saturday—tried to do way too much with a bad lie, and hit the ball about 20 yards straight into water.

I can physically feel this shot
pic.twitter.com/EfbiOS7nLy

— Nicole Rae (@NicoleRaeGolf) September 5, 2020

McIlroy’s tee shot on the par-5 18th ran 370 yards through the fairway, into a patch of rough just short of the water hazard. The ball sank so deep it was not visible on the broadcast as McIlroy took a long iron and attempted to get it to the green, instead of playing it safe and laying up to a wedge yardage. He did not make solid contact at all and the ball tumbled directly into the water. Yikes.

Ben Jared
Xander Schauffele hits a shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the Tour Championship.

McIlroy wound up making bogey for a one-over 71 and will enter Sunday five back.

Xander Schauffele lives under the radar
It’s been a quiet year for Xander Schauffele, who seems to specialize in staying under the radar. He has two runner-up finishes on the wraparound season and six top-10s, but a player of his calibre will be expecting at least one victory per season, even in a shortened one like this.

Schauffele has a chance to completely shift the narrative with a victory this week and put himself in great position to do so with a five-under 65 on Saturday, which paired nicely with his 67 on Friday. At eight-under gross through the first two days, he and Im have shot the lowest raw score through 36 holes. He’s won this tournament before, as a rookie in 2017, and will love his chances to cap off a so-so year with a $15 million bang.

Rahm runs into trouble
After Friday’s opening round, Jon Rahm seemed a great bet to win the Tour Championship. If we look past his bonehead penalty from Saturday at the BMW, he played his final 36 holes at a brutal Olympia Fields setup in 11 under. He then rode an unconsciously hot putter to a 65 on Friday and immediately erased Johnson’s two-shot head start. We looked destined for a Rahm-DJ showdown for the second straight week.

Saturday was a struggle. Particularly the back nine. Rahm made the turn in even par but made bogey at 11, double at 15 after a rinsed tee shot and another bogey at 16. He needed a nifty up-and-down on the par-5 18th to salvage a back-nine 39 and a four-over 74. He’s certainly not out of it, but the likelihood of Rahm vs. DJ Part II took a massive hit.

David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
Sebastian Munoz tees off during the first round of the Tour Championship.

Shoutout to Sebastian Munoz
Sebastian Munoz, a 27-year-old from Colombia, might be the least-recognizable player in the Tour Championship. In his first season on the PGA Tour, 2016-‘17, he missed more cuts than he made and headed back to the Web.com Tour. He then worked his way back and finished 117th in the FedEx Cup standings last season—nothing particularly exciting but enough to keep full status for this year.

It’s paid off. Munoz won the Sanderson Farms Classic in the fall and posted two other top 10s in the beginning of the season, which he has to thanks for a large portion of his FedEx Cup points. But when he posted four missed cuts, a T-48 and a T-74 in his last six events before the playoffs, his season looked destined to end before Atlanta. Not so. Munoz finished T-18 at the Northern Trust and shot 67-69 over the weekend at the BMW to book his spot in the Tour Championship, where he’s now solo 10th after a Saturday 65. He’s already into all the majors and all the big events next year; now he has a great chance to seriously pad the bank account. What a life-changing season this has been for the University of North Texas grad.

The post Leader Dustin Johnson goes on a different kind of clock, and other takeaways from Day 2 of Tour Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Webb Simpson is enjoying a career season, boasting two wins, a runner-up and two third-place finishes along with a PGA Tour-best 68.87 scoring average. A win at this week’s Tour Championship, thus bestowing the FedEx Cup, could equate to Player of the Year honours. Which is what made Simpson’s decision last week somewhat curious.

Entering the tour’s second round of the postseason third in the FedEx Cup standings, the 2012 U.S. Open champ withdrew from the no-cut BMW Championship, his management citing Simpson’s need for rest as the reason for the WD. His spot in the season-finale at East Lake was well-secured, but, with the Tour Championship moving to a new scoring system in 2019—staggered off the FedEx Cup standings, the No. 1 seed begins the first round at East Lake 10 under, the No. 2 seed at 8 under, No. 3 seed at seven under, etc.—Simpson’s move could have put him at disadvantage for this week’s proceedings in Atlanta.

Ultimately Simpson only dropped one spot down the standings, meaning he’ll start Friday’s first-round four strokes behind Dustin Johnson. Speaking to the media Thursday at East Lake, Simpson explained when he opted for the off-week.

“It’s a hard decision; last week Monday and Tuesday was very difficult for me because I was very tired,” Simpson said. “I played four in a row, knowing I’m coming to East Lake, knowing that the U.S. Open is coming up. So we’re kind of dealing with that as players all year of when to rest, when to play.”

Simpson said the move was especially tough since he was coming off a T-3 at the Wyndham Championship and a T-6 at the Northern Trust. He reiterated he was feeling exhausted, and expressed a want to be home with his daughter after she had her tonsils removed.

However, Simpson said added a new approach to the game—one that’s clearly paid dividends in 2020—has left him more drained after events than in years past, forcing him to recalibrate his schedule.

“I think I’m putting in a lot more kind of mental energy into each tournament week now than I used to, and so I’m coming off of playing a little more tired mentally than I used to,” Simpson said. “I’m working out. I’m in a better physical shape than I have been. But like I said, with that extra mental work each day I see the value of rest. My sports psychologist has really tried to get me to take more time off when I’m home. So maybe I used to take two days off on an off week from golf; now I’m taking four or five.”

Simpson is making his eighth career Tour Championship start, owning three top-five finishes in those appearances. He tees off Friday at 2:10 p.m. with Justin Thomas.

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