Dustin Johnson held off Paul Casey to win the BMW Championship and enter the Tour Championship ahead in FedEx Cup points.
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All this activity was far more compelling than the actual tournament, for Johnson never looked as though he was going to lose – no matter how well Casey played.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio – Bryson DeChambeau won the Web.com Tour Finals-opening DAP Championship to wrap up a PGA Tour card for next season.
Johnson heads into East Lake as the FedEx Cup leader, while Barclays victor Patrick Reed is second, Adam Scott is third and world No. 1 Jason Day, who withdrew from the BMW after nine holes on Sunday with a back problem, is fourth.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence especially after all the work I’ve put in that is paying off”, said Johnson, who has three wins and five other top-10s in his last 10 starts.
The top 30 players in the standings will now fight it out at the Tour Championship in Atlanta on 22-25 September for the $10m (£7.54m) winner’s prize. “I kept leaving everything short, but I got a handle on it on the back nine and finished really strongly”.
Now Johnson will try and replicate something else only Woods has done: Win the Tour Championship as the No. 1 player in the FedEx Cup points race going into the final event.
“Hopefully I’m saving my best for last, that would be a great way to finish the year”, Scott said.
Charl Schwartzel closed with a 64 and got the 30th spot to advance to the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship. He made some noise late with an eagle on the par-five 15th hole, but Johnson matched him.
“The more I practice, the more I’m in the situation, the more I know what to do and what to expect in the situations and kind of know what shots that I can hit and not to hit and I like it”, he said. It’s also the second time that the Englishman has finished runner-up to Johnson at this event, dating to the 2010 edition at Cog Hill G&CC. A solo ninth-place finish at Crooked Stick is fine, and he has put himself in position to repeat as the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup victor in two weeks (he’s now No. 7 in the FedEx Cup).
The back side was mostly without drama until Johnson came to the par-5 15th with a three-shot lead over Casey.
“The strength this week has been putting”, Johnson said.
Dustin Johnson poses with his trophies after winning the BMW Championship golf tournament at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.
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The U.S. Open champion continued the best year of his career, carding a 67 to finish at 23-under-par 265.
