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BMW Championship 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

The 32-year-old American, who captured his first major title at the US Open in June at Oakmont, finished on 23-under par 265 over 72 holes at the 7,516-yard Crooked Stick layout in suburban Indianapolis.

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Casey finished three shots behind Johnson in second, with Roberto Castro finishing on six shots back in third on 17-under par.

Johnson is now 979 points clear of compatriot Patrick Reed in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in a fortnight as he bids to scoop the $10m prize. He is now third in the FedEx Cup standings. He will be going for his third victory of the year and move to the top of the FedEx Cup going into the finale at the Tour Championship.

Third-placed Casey continued the stellar form that earned him the 54-hole lead at last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.

It took him only three holes to give up his three-shot lead to Casey, but four birdies in the next five holes re-established his advantage and he was never headed again.

“I feel I’ve got a good game plan out here, be aggressive on flags when I feel like I’ve got a good club and a good number and other times there are a few holes you just want to make par on and keep going”. Graeme McDowell also shot a 73 and will need to go low in his final round to stand any chance of making the top 30 that go on to the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Thailand’s Namchok Tantipokhakul shot a 69 to finish as the highest-placed overseas challenger in equal 12th spot, 11 shots behind Lee.

Barring a collapse by Johnson – it has happened before – his big finish after a rain delay earlier Saturday eliminated several players. Asked about his expectations after making the decision to change, the reigning U.S. Open champion simply said, “It couldn’t have been any worse than it was, so I didn’t have any”. “I don’t go into that stuff”, he said. He was four shots out of the lead, and his name on the leaderboard could – or should – only help his cause for becoming a captain’s pick on Monday for the Ryder Cup.

While he was sure to be passed by Dustin Johnson, an incomplete round makes a player ineligible for the award.

Injured: Jason Day pulled out of the BMW Championship with a back probkem.

Nino Bertasio could have snatched the lead late, but bogeyed the par-5 18th to drop to 9-under with Luiten and Mark Foster.

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Other Ryder Cup hopefuls didn’t shine. He will be in the top five going into the Tour Championship, which means a win gets him $10 million.

Dustin Johnson tees off on the sixth hole during the Pro Am round of the World Challenge golf tournament in Thousand Oaks California Novem