“I ran into a buzzsaw today”, Casey said with a shrug. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and some non-members such as DeChambeau. Rickie Fowler, who entered the week ranked 22nd, wound up in 59th place at Crooked Stick, knocking him out of the playoffs as he is 31st in the FedExCup standings. “You just don’t see this type of talent come along very often”.
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An awesome talent, Johnson is starting to pile up the victories to prove it.
Johnson is ranked No. 1 going into the Tour Championship and controls his own destiny when it comes to the FedEx Cup.
This victory follows Johnson’s breakthrough major at the U.S. Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, tying him with Jason Day for the most wins on the PGA Tour this season. He has won at least one event in nine consecutive seasons, the longest active streak on Tour, but before this year it always seemed as though he’d yet to maximize his incredible talent.
He nearly withdrew from both The Barclays in 2015 and the World Golf Championships Match Play this year with the same issue before fighting through the pain and winning.
“I’m not going to change anything”, Johnson said.
One of the other knocks on Johnson’s game over the years was that he didn’t take full advantage of those mammoth drives. He is hitting wedges good enough for multiple birdie chances.
Of course, leading the field in driving distance (319 yards) and strokes gained off the tee and also being third in strokes gained tee to green were big factors, as well.
Little wonder his scoring average is a Tour-best 69.17.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement”.
Even as everything seemed to go wrong, Johnson kept winning. Casey was unable to hold onto his 54-hole lead last week in Boston, but he showed resiliency bouncing back and contending again. Castro finished five shots clear of five players tied for fourth.
“It was just brilliant”, Casey said.
Asked later whether he agreed with Casey, that he had the ideal temperament for golf, Johnson stared blankly at the questioner.
But they finished before Johnson was done making birdies, and both were seven shots behind.
Casey threw down the gauntlet at the par-5 15 by holing a 24-footer for eagle. So overcome with emotion, he barely pumped his fist. “He has got the best attitude in golf”.
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Indeed, the beauty of Johnson is his simplicity. Rather than mark his 6-inch putt on 18 so that he could receive the loudest ovation, he instead tapped in first, politely doffed his cap and raised his right hand to the crowd. He recalled that his brother and caddie, Austin, had a similar model. It was perfectly DJ. He won the 2013 event at Kennemer. Johnson then stepped up and knocked his putt in for three.
