Gulf News

Johnson succeeds Rose as world No. 1

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Justin Rose may have scooped the FedEx Cup trophy with a fourthplac­e finish at the Tour Championsh­ip on Sunday but it was not enough to prevent him from surrenderi­ng the coveted top spot in the world rankings.

The 2016 Olympic champion has been replaced as world No. 1 by Dustin Johnson in the new rankings.

Johnson regained the ranking after finishing third, one shot ahead of Rose, at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Course. Rose however was more than satisfied with his week’s work, which earned him a $10 million FedEx Cup winner’s cheque.

“There were a lot of scenarios at play this week and that’s what the beauty of this format is,” Rose said. “I think obviously for me this year it rewarded consistent golf.

“For me, I was trying to do my best to win this golf tournament and scoop the double jackpot.

“But far and away, being next to this trophy is something I’m very, very proud of, and it was -definitely with five, six holes to play, it was pretty precarious. I was in a great position around the turn, and then things just got tricky out there.”

Johnson had first moved to world No. 1 in February 2017 and remained atop of the Rankings for 64-weeks until the second week in May this year.

“No, it doesn’t really matter and while I wanted to make back to the top, I would have hit it the same way,” said Johnson.

Tiger Woods, who ended a five-year winless drought to capture an 80th PGA Tour title, has moved-up a further eight places to be the new World No. 13.

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