Spieth and Johnson Leading at The Northern Trust

Jordan Spieth, #3 in World Rankings, had the short, flat stick rolling his ball smoothy as he shot 64 to take a three-shot lead over #1 player Dustin Johnson into the final round tomorrow for a 12-under par 198. Missing six fairways didn’t prevent Spieth from shooting the best round of the day on the Glen Oaks Club, way up north in Westbury, New York, as his home state of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico was swimming in Hurricane Harvey. Three players–Paul Casey, Patrick Reed, and Jon Rahm–were two shots back of Johnson at 7-under.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs were first introduced to the PGA Tour in 2007. It determines the season-long individual champion on the PGA Tour. The Northern Trust is the first of four playoff tournaments in this FedEx Cup series. Tomorrow, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson will be paired together in the last group in a PGA Tour tournament for the first time in their careers.

The dark-bearded, slender, 6’3″ Johnson–who looks like a Western cowboy TV star without the gun belt full of bullets strung across his waist–is so imposing off the tee with his length. But young Spieth–who looks like your clean-cut, smiling next-door neighbor–works his magic on the short grass. Besides the three-shot lead, Spieth could have the edge since he won this event two years ago, in 2015. And he has proved himself a worthy frontrunner except for his colossal collapse on the back nine while leading the Masters last year. Nevertheless, it could be an exciting finish.