By Rahul Banerji
Dustin Johnson stands one steady round away from a maiden FedEx Cup title after the penultimate day of the Tour Championship saw him open a five-shot lead in Atlanta on Sunday.
The world number one, who missed out on the lucrative payout four years ago, looked in no mood to allow a repeat as he brought in a day’s best of 6-under 64 for a 19-under par total.
Past winner Justin Thomas (2017) and Xander Schauffele were tied second five shots back under the weighted starting formula that gave Johnson a 10-under advantage before a shot was hit in anger at East Lake.
Johnson has not had an easy run, but grinding his way through the first two rounds puts him within touching distance of the $15 milllion bonus payout.
He was chased on Friday by Jon Rahm, the world no. 2. On Saturday, it was young Korean Sungjae Im who held the Texan down to a one-shot lead. Defending champion Rory McIlroy was not too far off either.
One by one, though, they have fallen away.
Steady uptick
Johnson hit just two of 14 fairways on the first day. On Sunday, he had improved that to 11 of 14 and putted for birdie on all but three holes.
And he desperately wants the win.
“To be the FedExCup champion is something that I want to do,” Johnson was quoted as saying on Sunday. “It’s something that I want on my resume when I quit playing golf.”
A Monday victory would be his 23rd on the PGA Tour and would put in 27th on the all-time list.
“I’m comfortable in the position I’m in,” he said after Sunday’s action.
“Even the two Sundays where I didn’t win (PGA Championship, BMW Championship), I felt like I played really solid rounds.
“Just a couple guys played a little bit better (Collin Morikawa at the PGA Championship and Jon Rahm last week).
“Tomorrow is more of the same. I just need to go out and focus on what I’m doing and try and shoot the lowest score I can.”
The two closest in the chase, Schauffele and Thomas are in no doubt Johnson will be hard to stop.
“If he does what he normally does, it’s going to be almost impossible to catch him,” said Schauffele.
“DJ is clearly playing well. It wasn’t easy today. It’s still East Lake. But anything can happen around this course,” added Thomas.
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