Dustin: "I feel like I can play better"
Dustin Johnson of the United States celebrates with the FedEx Cup Trophy after winning in the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 07, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Dustin Johnson held off final-round challenges from Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas to win his first Tour Championship and the $15 million FedEx Cup bonus in Atlanta.
The world No 1 started the day five shots clear of his American compatriots on 19-under-par but while ghosts of past failures raised their heads, he dug deep to keep them at bay at East Lake, carding a final round 68 to win by three shots from Schauffele and Thomas, who both shot 66, on 21-under par.
It looked like it would be a stress-free day for the phlegmatic South Carolinian (36) when he birdied the third, fifth and sixth to get to 22-under and lead by four strokes from Thomas.
But he dropped shots at the seventh and eighth and had to make a six-footer to avoid another bogey at the ninth, turning for home just three ahead of Thomas and four clear of Schauffele on 20-under.
Schauffele then birdied the 11th and 12th to get to within two shots. But he bogeyed the 13th and playing partner Johnson hammered a 22-footer into the back of the cup to save par there and restore his three-shot cushion.
Thomas and then Schauffele both closed to within two shots again with birdies at the 16th but Johnson players imperiously down the stretch, hitting stellar approach shots down the last five holes as he parred every hole on the back nine before getting up and down from greeenside sand for birdie at the 18th.
Thomas bogeyed the 17th before picking up a birdie at the last to share second with Schauffele, earning them $4.5 million apiece.
Jon Rahm shot 66 to finish fourth on 17-under ($3 million) while Rory McIlroy’s 67 left him tied for eighth with Patrick Reed and Colombia’s Sebastián Muñoz on 11-under, earning him $960,000 to take his FedEx Cup career earnings to $31.86 million.
Johnson was understandably thrilled in his own way, to complete one of his career goals and he must now be highly fancied to claim a second US Open at Winged Foot later this month.
“Well, it means a lot. Obviously it's a very tough trophy to win. I've been close several times. This time I did control my own destiny, which I knew what I had to do. I had the lead to start, but I still had to go out and play well today,” Johnson said..
“I had a lot of great players right behind me and they played some good golf today. It got pretty close there at the end, which is what I thought it would be. I knew I was going to have to come down the stretch and hit some golf shots. But I'm very proud of winning the FedExCup Trophy.”
Asked if he was nervous and whether he was playing for the money or the prestige, he said: “I was nervous. I always get nervous because it means something. Yeah, I mean, I get nervous on the first hole, kind of settled down a little bit, and then obviously the back nine definitely could feel it, just because there were a lot of really good players around me and they were playing well. So I knew I was going to have to shoot a good score on the back nine if I wanted to win.”
As for the money or the glory question, he said: “Probably the prestige for sure just because being a FedExCup champion is something that I really wanted to do. I wanted to hold that trophy at the end of the day. It was something that I wanted to accomplish during my career, and obviously I got one of them. Now I'm going to try to get me another.”
With 23 career wins, Johnson has won $67.59 million since 2008, not including the $15 million bonus he received from FedEx.
But when asked if he could remember the first time a cheque made a difference to him in his career, he said: “When I went through all three stages of Q-school and got my TOUR card I think they gave me like a $25,000 cheque. Yeah, I thought I was rich because I didn't have but a couple hundred bucks in my bank account probably.
Then I went to the first tournament in Hawai'i, I think I finished 10th, and I don't know, it was a hundred grand or something. So yeah, that was big, and obviously that was a lot of money to me.
“Now obviously I'm very thankful for FedEx and the amount of money they donate for us to be whoever is the FedExCup champion, but it's not about the money for me. It's more about the trophy…. at this stage of my career, I'm fortunate enough where I don't need to think about that [losing cash because of a missed putt]. It's all about winning and the trophies. The money is not -- I don't really care about that. I want to win tournaments, and I want to win trophies.”
Johnson believes he’s playing as well he was in early 2017, when he was second at Pebble Beach, then won the Genesis Open at Riviera, the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in consecutive starts before he fells on stairs at his Augusta rental home and was forced to withdraw from the Masters with a lower back injury.
“It's similar,” he said. It's getting there. I think I was playing really good then. Obviously I'm playing very well now. Like I said, I feel like I can play better, though.
“You know, at times I'm firing on all cylinders, but there's times where I'm not. I'm playing good enough, though, to where I can keep it where I still can give myself a chance to win. Compared to spring of '17, almost there.”
As for the prospect of the US Open and the Masters still to come, he said: “I am excited. Obviously I'm playing well. I've got a lot of confidence in the game, so I'm really looking forward to the next obviously couple months.
“But then after that I'm looking forward to some time off. It's been a long stretch, but it's made it a lot easier playing well, that's for sure.”
Final-Round Leaderboard
Pos. Player Began R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1 Dustin Johnson -10 -3 E -6 -2 -21
T2 Xander Schauffele -3 -3 -5 -3 -4 -18
T2 Justin Thomas -7 -4 +1 -4 -4 -18
4 Jon Rahm -8 -5 +4 -4 -4 -17
5 Scottie Scheffler -2 +1 -4 -4 -5 -14
Things to Know
Dustin Johnson wins the FedExCup and the TOUR Championship for the first time in his career
Johnson becomes the first No. 1 seed to win the FedExCup since Tiger Woods in 2009
In the FedExCup Playoffs, Johnson owns the most wins (6), top-fives (13) and top-10s (21)
Johnson entered the final round with the 54-hole lead/co-lead in his fourth straight start: PGA Championship (1/T2), THE NORTHERN TRUST (1/Won), BMW Championship (T1/P2), TOUR Championship (1/Won); last player to do this in four consecutive stroke-play events was Tiger Woods in 1999, culminating with his TOUR Championship win (Note: THE INTERNATIONAL – using Modified Stableford scoring – was played the week after the PGA Championship in 1999)
2017 TOUR Championship winner Xander Schauffele finishes T2, his second-consecutive runner-up finish at the TOUR Championship; has seven runner-up finishes in 96 TOUR starts
Justin Thomas has finished no worse than T7 in five starts at the TOUR Championship; this week’s T2 marked his second runner-up finish (2017) at East Lake Golf Club
Scottie Scheffler (5th) becomes the third rookie to finish inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings, joining Xander Schauffele (2017) and Jordan Spieth (2013)
Webb Simpson won the PGA TOUR’s Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average (68.866)
Following the week
Dustin Johnson
Age 36 (June 22, 1984)
Country United States
FedExCup 1
OWGR 1
PGA TOUR starts 274
PGA TOUR wins 23
PGA TOUR top-10s 103
Starts in 2019-20 14
Wins in 2019-20 3
Top-10s in 2019-20 7
TOUR Championship starts 11
TOUR Championship Top-10s 6
Dustin Johnson (1/-21)
Wins the FedExCup and TOUR Championship for the first time in career
Becomes the first No. 1 seed to win the FedExCup since Tiger Woods in 2009
Win comes in his 274th PGA TOUR start at the age of 36 years, 2 months, 16 days
Moves into sole possession of 27th place all-time for PGA TOUR victories with 23
In the FedExCup Playoffs, owns the most wins (6), top-fives (13) and top-10s (21)
Has won three or more events four out of the last five seasons
Has now won 10 of 21 times holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead (in a 72-hole event)
Has won 10 of 13 times when holding a lead of three or more strokes entering the final round
Qualified for the TOUR Championship for the 12th consecutive season (didn’t play in 2014 due to personal reasons), the longest active streak on TOUR
Finished inside the top-five in the FedExCup six times: 2020/1st, 2016/2nd, 2019/4th, 2018/4th, 2011/4th, 2010/5th
In his 10 starts since the Return to Golf, recorded three victories (Travelers Championship, THE NORTHERN TRUST, TOUR Championship) and two runner-up finishes (PGA Championship, BMW Championship)
Miscellaneous Notes
With a 4-under 66 on Monday, 2017 TOUR Championship winner Xander Schauffele (T2) posted his 16th consecutive round at par-or-better in as many attempts at East Lake Golf Club; has finished inside the top three in the FedExCup standings three times (2017/3rd, 2019/2nd, 2020/T2)
In search of first victory at East Lake despite winning the 2017 FedExCup, Justin Thomas finished runner-up for the second time (2017); finished T7 or better in all five starts at East Lake Golf Club (2016/T6, 2017/2nd, 2018/T7, 2019/T3, 2020/T2); marked his 10th top-10 finish of the season, most on TOUR
One week after picking up his fifth TOUR title at the BMW Championship, Jon Rahm closed with a 4-under 66 to finish fourth; here’s a look at his FedExCup finishes (2017/5th, 2018/23rd, 2019/12th, 2020/4th)
Scottie Scheffler (5th) becomes the third rookie to finish inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings (Xander Schauffele/3rd/2017, Jordan Spieth/7th/2013); Viktor Hovland, the only other rookie to advance to the TOUR Championship, finished T20
Attempting to become the first player to birdie the par-3 ninth all four rounds, Collin Morikawa(6th) parred the hole with a two-putt from 47 feet; only other player to birdie the hole the first three rounds was Scott Verplank (2007); Morikawa and Xander Schauffele led the field this week with 21 birdies
Rory McIlroy finished T8 in bid to become first three-time FedExCup champion and first to win in consecutive seasons
There were just five bogey-free rounds during the week, with Patrick Reed (T8) turning in two (R2/66, R4/65); previous-best finish at the TOUR Championship came in 2019 (T9)
Webb Simpson (68.866) wins the PGA TOUR’s Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average over Bryson DeChambeau (69.097)
