Golf-Johnson extends Tour Championship lead at East Lake

"I know it was what I needed to do, to play here well, is just hit it in the fairway." His improved driving included a monster 352 yard tee shot on the par-five 18th, where he would go on to make his seventh birdie of the day.


Reuters | Updated: 07-09-2020 05:32 IST | Created: 07-09-2020 05:32 IST
Golf-Johnson extends Tour Championship lead at East Lake

Dustin Johnson posted his best round of the season-ending Tour Championship on Sunday, carding a third-round 64 to sit five shots clear of the field as he guns for his first FedExCup championship.

After misfiring with the driver for most of Saturday, the overnight leader found his rhythm on Sunday, hitting 11 of 14 fairways and is now 19-under for the tournament with Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas tied for second at 14-under. World number two Jon Rahm is fourth at 13-under and PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa is fifth at 12-under.

"Today was much different off the tee. I hit a lot more fairways, and then the couple fairways I missed were just off," world number one Johnson said. "I know it was what I needed to do, to play here well, is just hit it in the fairway."

His improved driving included a monster 352 yard tee shot on the par-five 18th, where he would go on to make his seventh birdie of the day. His only blemish was a bogey on the par three 11th, where his drive found the rough. Johnson, who has had the 54 hole lead in the last four tournaments he has played in, was the top seed going into East Lake and started 10-under with a two-shot lead due to the staggered scoring system.

Johnson has said the FedExCup championship is the missing piece of his resume, which includes 22 wins on the PGA Tour including the 2016 U.S. Open, and he'll look to claim the $15 million in prize money in Monday's finale. "I control my destiny," Johnson said.

"I need to go out and just play like I did today. Obviously I'm swinging good. I've got a lot of confidence in the game. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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