Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dustin Johnson breezes to the victory at the Genesis Open at Riviera and becomes the No. 1 player in the world.
LOS ANGELES — Dustin Johnson went to No. 1 in the world with a worldclass performance at Riviera.
Johnson turned a marathon finish into a Sunday stroll in the Genesis Open. He finished the third round in the morning with a 7-under 64 to build a fiveshot lead, stretched it to nine shots at one point in the final round and coasted home to a 71 and a five-shot victory.
“It sounds good,” Johnson said when asked about being the top player in the world. “I played really great all day. I couldn’t have driven it any better. That was a big key.”
Johnson became the 20th player to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986, ending Jason Day’s 47-week stay at the top.
“He deserves it because he’s been playing great golf,” Day said.
Johnson won for the fourth time against some of golf ’s strongest fields dating to his U.S. Open victory last summer. All he cared about Sunday was winning at Riviera, one of his favorite courses where he has had chances in four of the last five years.
There was no doubt this time. Johnson had a oneshot lead when he arrived Sunday, which lost 10 hours the previous three days to fog and torrential rain. Johnson’s longest par putt in the third round was from 4 feet, and he closed with three straight birdies to make the final round in the afternoon more of a coronation.
Johnson went 49 straight holes without a bogey, a streak that ended on No. 9 in the final round, and he was sloppy down the stretch when it no longer mattered.
It capped off a strong stretch that elevated Johnson to the top. Not only was it his fourth victory since June, he has finished among the top three in eight of his last 16 tournaments.
“No surprise to us players, and I don’t think too much surprise to many others,” Jordan Spieth said. Spieth ended his streak of 19 consecutive rounds under par on the PGA Tour — and 27 rounds worldwide — with a 72 in the third round.
Johnson finished at 17-under 267. He did not break the oldest 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour schedule. Lanny Wadkins won at Riviera in 1985 at 20-under 264.
Couples wins Chubb Classic
NAPLES — Fred Couples won the Chubb Classic on Sunday for his 12th PGA Tour Champions title and first since 2014, rallying to beat Miguel Jimenez at TwinEagles.
The 57-year-old Couples shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 to finish at 16-under 200 on the Talon Course, three strokes ahead of secondround leader Jimenez.
Also the 2010 event winner at The Quarry, Couples won for the first time since the 2014 Shaw Charity Classic in Alberta. The Hall of Famer won 15 times on the PGA Tour — his lone major coming in the 1992 Masters.
Couples had three birdies on the front nine, and matched Jimenez’s birdies on the par-4 14th and par-5 17th. Jimenez, a stroke ahead of playing partners Couples and Kevin Sutherland entering the round, shot a 71.