Logjam at the top of Northern Trust

Johnson among four sharing lead

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — Two swings cost Dustin Johnson the lead. It wasn’t long before Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler caught up to him in The Northern Trust, setting up a weekend of star power in the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.

Johnson, finally looking like the No. 1 player who looked unstoppable in the spring, appeared on the verge of building a big lead at Glen Oaks Club until consecutive tee shots wound up on the wrong holes and forced him to scramble just to escape with bogey.

Fowler made up a fiveshot deficit in six holes playing alongside Johnson, making a 15-foot birdie on the last hole for a 66 to join Johnson and Jhonattan Vegas (65) atop the leaderboard. And then Spieth put together a stretch Friday afternoon reminiscent of his British Open victory, minus a shot from the driving range, in a 65.

Spieth began the back nine with five straight birdies, matching his longest birdie streak on the PGA Tour. It ended with a bogey on the par-3 15th when his tee shot rolled back into the water, but then he answered with a 40-foot birdie putt up the slope on the 16th.

Spieth wasn’t alone in running off a string of birdies. Matt Kuchar looked as though he might miss the cut until his caddie encouraged him to try to get back to even par. Kuchar ran off four straight birdies and kept right on rolling, ending his round of 64 with eight birdies on the last 10 holes.

Kuchar and two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson (68) were one shot out of the lead.

LPGA: In Ottawa, In Gee Chun took the lead in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, and Canadian star Brooke Henderson did just enough to make the weekend at Ottawa Hunt.

Chun closed with a birdie on the par-5 ninth for her second straight 4-under 67, giving the South Korean player a two-stroke lead over Americans Mo Martin, Brittany Lincicome and Marina Alex.

Henderson, the 19-yearold fan favorite from nearby Smiths Falls, followed her opening 74 with a 69 to make the cut on the number at 1 over. Martin birdied four of the last four holes for a 67, and Lincicome birdied the par-5 18th for her second straight 68. Alex, the firstround leader, had a 70.