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ATLANTA – It looks like Dustin Johnson plays without a pulse. Underneath his stoic gaze and arrogance as he walked the streets of East Lake, his nerves were on edge on Monday (Tuesday Manila time) because it meant so much to him.
The $ 15 million prize for winning the FedEx Cup? That would get anyone’s attention, especially someone who thought he was rich when Johnson cashed his first tournament check as a rookie on the PGA Tour for $ 113,571.
But there was more.
“Prestige, for sure,” Johnson said after hitting a key pair putt and steady play down the stretch for a 2-under-68, three-shot Tour Championship win.
“Being a FedEx Cup champion is something I really wanted to do. I wanted to have that trophy at the end of the day,” Johnson said. “It was something I wanted to achieve during my career.”
He did it by striding at just the right time.
He won two of the three FedEx Cup postseason events and lost in a playoff by a 65-foot putt at the other. It all came down to the last day of the final event, and even with a five-shot lead, it was never easy.
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Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas each came within three shots in the top nine. Each came within two shots of Johnson with two holes to play. He never let them get caught, and his only birdie of the last nine on the final hole gave him his third win since June and the 23rd of his career on the PGA Tour.
“It’s a very difficult trophy to win,” Johnson said. “I was controlling my own destiny, but I still had to go out and play well. I had a lot of great players behind me. He came close to the end. I knew he was going to make it down the stretch and I have a few golf shots to hit.”
None was greater than the 20-foot par putt on the 13th hole to maintain their lead on three strokes, the 5-iron safely on the green at the hardest hole at East Lake, another 5-iron over the water at the par 3 The 15th hole, the only hole where the big numbers lurk, and a wedge from a deep bunker onto the green on the 16th.
“This is a tough golf course. No lead is safe,” Johnson said. “The guys gave me a good fight today.”
Johnson became the first No. 1 seed in the Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup since Tiger Woods in 2009. He now has his name engraved on the silver trophy along with some of the best of his generation, starting with Woods and more. recently with Rory McIlroy. , with Hall of Famers, great champions and former World No. 1 players in between.
Schauffele, who tends to bring his best golf to the big moments, cut the lead to two shots when both had to fight for par at 13. Schauffele missed his par putt from 25 feet and Johnson rammed his.
“He’s here to win the tournament,” said Schauffele, who finished with a 66 and had the lowest score in 72 holes of the tournament at 265. “He made that putt. I didn’t. That was a highlight.”
Thomas bogeyed a wild tee shot to the right at the 17th. Schauffele also had to fight on the 17th, escaping with par after a tee shot into the bunker. And on 18 par 5, Johnson unleashed a drive that started to the left along the pines and faded gently to the center of the fairway.
That set up a birdie from the front bunker, a hug with brother Austin, his caddy and a much-desired trophy.
Johnson held a five-shot advantage at 19-under-9 under his own score and began the tournament with 10-under as the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup. It ended at 21 under.
Schauffele and Thomas tied for second, each earning $ 4.5 million.
Jon Rahm, the No. 2 seed, closed with a 66 to finish fourth for $ 3 million. Scottie Scheffler, who a year ago was preparing to start her rookie year, finished 66-65 and was fifth with a $ 2.5 million reward.
And so the weirdest season on the PGA Tour concluded, which doesn’t seem like the end at all except for the $ 15 million awarded to Johnson, $ 14 million now and $ 1 million deferred.
The new season starts on Thursday. There are still two majors to play.
The golf was closed for three months and when it restarted, Johnson was 111th in the FedEx Cup. He won the Travelers Championship. He followed up with a par 80 at the Memorial and then a 78 at the 3M Open in Minnesota before retiring because he wasn’t feeling quite right.
Since then, he seems the greatest talent in golf.
“I played him at the Memorial and had never seen him lost, not even remotely close to lost,” Thomas said. “He was playing so bad and playing so bad. But he never gave up. I was just trying to find him and couldn’t find him again the following week, and the next thing you know, two months later he’s the FedEx Cup Champion.
“I think that’s all you need to know about golf.”
In four tournaments in a row against the best courses, he had the 54-hole three times and tied the other. He converted one into an 11-shot win. He lost to a 65 by Collin Morikawa at the PGA Championship and to a 65-foot putt by Rahm in the BMW Championship.
He desperately wanted the latter, and even bet on a five-shot lead at East Lake, it was never easy.
It rarely is for Johnson.
But he’s back at the top at No. 1 and with a trophy he wanted so badly. Next up is the US Open at Winged Foot in two weeks, a tough course, the kind Johnson loves. The Masters are yet to come. The celebration can wait until the holidays. He wants to move on.
“I’m playing well. I’m very confident in the game,” he said. “I am looking forward to the next few months.”
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