Schauffele got up and below 130 yards to conserve par on the 14th following another errant drive and Thomas birdied the 16th to close within two of Johnsons lead, just to quickly bogey the next after a wild tee shot. Schauffele also birdied the 16th to keep the pressure on Johnson, but that was as close as he might get and Johnson finished in style with a birdie on the last.
” It suggests a lot, obviously its an extremely difficult prize to win,” Johnson stated at the presentation event.” It got pretty close at the end, I understood I was going to have to come down the stretch and struck some golf shots and Im extremely happy of winning the FedEx Cup prize. Regardless of actually shooting the best score of the week, Schauffele had no complaints about having to begin 7 behind Johnson due to the handicap format. “He won the first one, tied first (in guideline) in the 2nd and won here.
” It means a lot, clearly its an extremely hard prize to win,” Johnson stated at the discussion event. I had a lead however I still had to go out and play well today, I had a lot of fantastic gamers right behind me and they played some great golf today.
A closing round of 68 provided Johnson a winning overall of 21 under par, with Schauffele and Thomas sharing second place on 18 under following matching rounds of 66.
Sign up to The Recap, our weekly e-mail of editors picks.
Johnson had actually likewise lost of the green and struck a likewise bad pitch, but rattled in the par putt from 20 feet to extend his lead once again.
” It got pretty close at the end, I understood I was going to need to boil down the stretch and hit some golf shots and Im very happy of winning the FedEx Cup trophy. Im absolutely playing the finest Ive ever played. I feel whatever is called in pretty well. Ive got a lot of self-confidence in every part of my video game today. Ive got a number of day of rests and then got to get ready for the US Open.”
Johnsons five-shot lead made him an expensive favourite for success and he reacted to a flurry of early birdies from his competitors with three of his own in the first six holes.
In spite of in fact shooting the finest rating of the week, Schauffele had no problems about needing to begin 7 behind Johnson due to the handicap format. “He is worthy of to win,” the 26-year-old stated. “He won the very first one, connected first (in regulation) in the second and won here. He clearly is playing excellent golf and I believe thats what the play-offs is everything about.”
Bogeys at the 8th and seventh provided the chasing pack hope and Schauffele birdied the 11th and 12th to get to within 2 of the lead as Johnson started to feel the pressure.
Johnson saw his five-shot over night lead cut to 2, initially by playing partner Schauffele and after that Thomas, but the world number one held his nerve to secure the eight-figure payday at East Lake.
However, just when he had Johnson on the ropes, Schauffele let him off once again with a bogey on the 13th after pushing his drive into the trees and fluffing his pitch from except the green.
Unsurprisingly, the last gamer to hold the 54-hole lead in four straight strokeplay events was Tiger Woods in 1999 and he won all four, starting with the United States PGA Championship and ending with the Tour Championship.
It was the fourth event in a row in which Johnson had led or shared the lead after 54 holes, aided by beginning on 10 under par thanks to the questionable handicap system embraced in 2015 for the FedEx Cup play-offs. The 36-year-old completed second in the United States PGA Championship, shot 30 under par to win the very first play-off occasion by 11 shots and after that lost a play-off in the BMW Championship, where Jon Rahm holed from 66 feet for birdie on the very first additional hole.
Dustin Johnson held back figured out difficulties from Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele to win the Tour Championship, FedEx Cup title and the first prize of $15m in Atlanta.
