Paul Casey did his best to stay with him. Casey made an 8m eagle putt on the 15th hole to get within one shot, but that lasted only as long as it took Johnson to make an 6m eagle putt on top of him to keep the margin at three shots.
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He chose to withdraw rather than risk greater injury, but the 28-year-old Australian is expected to play in two weeks in the Tour Championship, having safely qualified to be among the 30 who advance to Atlanta. Bubba Watson had to settle for a 72, while Rickie Fowler shot 71 and was tied for 59th.
Johnson said he was “frustrated” by his poor start to the final round – bogeying the second and third holes – but was confident he was playing well enough to turn it around in his 200th start on tour.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson burned rubber earlier in the week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He was two over for the day and three under for the tournament – well adrift of leader Dustin Johnson – when he brought his participation to a premature close.
The consolation for Casey, along with $1,836,000 for his two runner-up finishes, was the No. 5 seed at the Tour Championship in two weeks.
“I knew it was going to be a battle and I knew a couple under par would be good”, DeChambeau said.
Englishman Casey also shot 67 for second place on 20 under, with American Roberto Castro (67) another three shots back in third place.
Fowler, who finished 59th in the 69-man field on Sunday, is among those hoping to be named on Monday among U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love’s three wildcard picks for this month’s event against Europe.
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.
Although the focus for many will be on the back injury that forced Day out of the BMW Championship today, Scott moved past his fellow Queenslander with, remarkably, his third consecutive fourth-place finish in as many weeks.
Everill wrote on Twitter that Day’s withdrawal was a “precautionary” one and that the 10-time PGA Tour victor hoped to be fit in time for the lucrative Tour Championship.
Sitting 10 strokes behind Johnson, Spieth would need a lot of help to get back into contention.
The third round already was scheduled to start late because of morning storms in the forecast, which pounded Crooked Stick and delayed that time by 1ﾽ hours.
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Schwartzel, Holmes and Scott were in a pack sharing fourth on 276 that also included Americans Ryan Palmer and Matt Kuchar.
