It was an exciting finish. Hours ago, #1 World Ranking and long-hitting Dustin Johnson defeated Jordan Spieth in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win The Northern Trust golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It was the first of four consecutive tournaments in the PGA Tour’s season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Johnson had to do some magic of his own to tie for the 72 holes of regulation play in order to force a sudden-death playoff. On the 72nd hole–a dogleg-left, 467-yard par four–Johnson drove through the fairway into the right rough and had to pitch out. With a nearly full wedge shot left to the green for his third shot, he placed it on the green, 15+ feet to the right of the back-left hole location. Spieth had driven into the fairway; but he then clunked his six iron shot barely short of the green in the fringe. Spieth had about a 60+ foot putt with a large curve left. But he kept his putting reputation untarnished as he lagged it two feet short of the hole for an easy two-putt par four. The pressure was now on Johnson to make his downhill par putt to tie. He barely slid the ball into the right edge of the 4.25″ diameter cup as the ball rolled around before disappearing. Now the game was on for sudden-death.
For the single extra hole, tournament officials chose the 18th. What makes that dogleg-left hole especially challenging is that the fairway curves around a lake, with a big sand bunker lying it and the fairway where lengthy drives on that direction can nestle. Spieth drove first and avoided all trouble, laying his pellet right down the middle of the fairway. When Johnson then took aim, he caused raised eyebrows of the two television announcers–Jim Nance and Nick Faldo. Why? Johnson purposely aimed his drive well left of the bunker, right over the water. Not many mortals dare try that, since it is such a long carry over the water. But Johnson’s ball easily sailed clear of the boding H2O and settled beautifully in the fairway, leaving him only 95 yards from the pin.
Johnson’s bomb had outdriven Spieth about 80 yards except that part of that was due to the dogleg. Spieth then struck a seven iron from 174 yards that had good line but not enough backspin. The ball hit the green short of the hole, then bounded to the back fringe about 20-feet from the hole.
Dustin Johnson often says that in most PGA Tour golf tournaments, when he is driving the ball well and thus hitting fairways–which is often even though he hits it so far–he spends so much of his practice time hitting full wedge shots down to half wedge shots. That’s because he has so many short shots like that one on par four holes for his second shot. This time, his practice must have paid off because he used his 60-degree wedge to knock the ball three feet short of the hole for an easy uphill birdie putt.
The pressure was now on Spieth to make his downhill birdie putt. He failed with his magic wand as he missed slightly left to make a par four. Johnson then easily split the center of the 4.25″ diameter cup on his three footer for a birdie three and the win.
It was Dustin Johnson’s fourth win on the PGA Tour this year. It was his fourth career win in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. And it was his 16th win on the PGA Tour.
Dustin Johnson is now in his top form as the best pro golfer in the world after his accident at the Masters. It had knocked him out of action for a while. As the favored player there at Augusta, the evening before the first round he slipped in his stocking feet while walking down stairs in the house he was staying at that week and tumbled to the floor. It wrenched his back, causing him to have to withdraw from the tournament. It was a disappointment to him and the golf world. But now he’s back. I wonder if Dustin Johnson walks around in his stocking feet anymore.
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