Johnson, Fowler part of logjam in New York
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. » Rickie Fowler erased a five-shot deficit to Dustin Johnson in six holes and joined him and Jhonattan Vegas atop the leaderboard midway through the second round of The Northern Trust.
Fowler did his part with three birdies over his final six holes at Glen Oaks Club, capped by a 15-foot putt on No. 9, for a 4-under 66. Johnson did his part by missing two fairways so wide that he was playing his next shot from the adjacent hole. He did well to make bogey from both spots, though he had to settle for a 69.
On the other side of the course, Vegas quietly went about his business with a bogey-free 65.
They were at 6-under 134, setting a target for Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and other late starters.
Johnson had a chance to separate himself from the field except for getting putts to drop early. Over his opening six holes, his longest birdie attempt was 12 feet, but he managed to convert just two of them.
Even so, Johnson ripped a fairway metal onto the green at the par-5 third hole and two-putted for birdie, giving him a fiveshot lead over Fowler and Jon Rahm, playing in the group with him.
One swing on No. 4 changed everything.
“I sliced it,” Johnson said, adding a few more colorful words to describe a shot that sailed so far to the right that was a few inches away from the third fairway. In gnarly rough, he tried to punch it back to the fairway and struck a tree. His next shot was 50 feet right of the pin up against the collar of rough, and he chipped that with perfect pace to escape with bogey.
On the next hole, he went so far to the left off the tee that the ball was closer to the fourth fairway. He went through more trees, but the ball clipped too many branches and stayed in the rough. His chip out of the rough barely reached the green and he had to make a 12-footer to escape with another bogey.
Fowler, meanwhile stuffed it on No. 4 and rolled in an 8-footer on the par-3 sixth over water, and just like that they were tied.
“Pretty stress-free,” Fowler said. “I’ve been driving it well this week, which is key around here. You don’t want to play out of the rough.”
Rahm also lost a little control off the tee late in the round, though it didn’t cost him as much as Johnson. He was just as far offline on No. 4, except that the ball hit a tree and caromed into the fairway, and from there Rahm hit his approach to a foot. His next shot also went right, and the Spaniard cupped his hand on the back of his head as he watched it tumble into the water. He made bogey, closed with four pars and shot 68.
Defending champion Patrick Reed had a 67 and was at 3-under 137, along with Paul Casey, who had a 68.
Along with winning at Torrey Pines, Rahm nearly won World Golf Championships in Texas and Mexico, both tournaments won by Johnson. Rahm saw the No. 1 player in the up close at the Dell Technologies Match Play, where Johnson beat him on the final hole for his third straight victory — and last one before Johnson wrenched his back and had to withdraw from the Masters.
Rahm doesn’t see much difference from how Johnson played then to how he is playing now.
“Besides the bump on 4 and 5 for him, if he hits the two fairways, he’s probably at 10 under,” Rahm said.
But instead of a runaway, it’s now a logjam in the first FedEx Cup playoff event.
The top 100 in the FedEx Cup after this week advance to the next playoff event at the TPC Boston, and some players already packed up for a short offseason. Among those outside the top 100 who failed to make the cut were Nick Watney and Rory Sabbatini.
Houston to practice at Texas as Hurricane Harvey looms >> The University of Houston is sending its football team to Austin to practice and get out Hurricane Harvey’s way.
The University of Texas has agreed to let the Cougars use their indoor practice facility. Austin is supposed to get some rain from the storm but nothing like the deluge expected for several days in Houston and along the Texas Gulf coast.
The move puts the Cougars in the backyard of their former head coach Tom Herman. Texas hired Herman away from Houston after last season.
Houston starts the season Sept. 2 at UTSA. Texas hosts Maryland on the same day.
The storm has impacted other sports as well. The Houston Dynamo announced that a Saturday match with Sporting Kansas City has been postponed until Oct. 11.
Barcelona brings in Dembele to try to replace Neymar >> Barcelona is signing Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele in a deal that could reach 147 million (about $173 million).
Barcelona said on Friday the 20-year-old Dembele will be officially introduced after undergoing a physical and signing his contract on Monday.
The club will pay 105 million euros ($124 million) plus possible add-ons that could reach 40 percent of the fixed transfer fee.