Strong finish gives Johnson 5-shot advantage
NORTON, Mass. — Dustin Johnson arrived at the TPC Boston this week, headed to the practice range and then looked at his swing coach.
“He said, ‘Bro, what am I supposed to be working on again?’ ” Claude Harmon said Saturday as he watched his pupil set another personal record in The Northern Trust.
Johnson isn’t doing much wrong at the moment, a daunting prospect to the guys trying to chase him. His birdie-eagle finish gave Johnson a 7-under 64 and stretched his lead to five shots over Harris English and Scottie Scheffler.
The finish would have come in handy the day before. Johnson was an astounding 11 under through 11 holes Friday and had the golf world curious if he would go as low as 57 to set the PGA Tour record. Instead, he finished with seven consecutive pars for a 60, his best ever but not what it could have been.
Johnson put that behind him and looked almost as good. Instead of the fast start, it was a big finish. He rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the 17th, and then holed a 40-footer up a ridge and down toward the hole for eagle on the par-5 18th.
That put him at 22-under 191, his lowest 54-hole total by three shots.
In his mind, there is still work to be done.
“I’m in a great position and like where I’m at, but I’m still going to have to go out and shoot a good score,” Johnson said. “You can go low out here and guys are going low every day, especially with the conditions we have — perfect greens, golf course is in great shape and not a lot of wind.”
Johnson knows better than to think it’s over. Just an hour before he signed for his 64, he was tied for the lead until English made bogeys on the 16th and 17th and missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 66.
He could also think back to the HSBC Champions in Shanghai three years ago, when he had a six-shot lead in the final round and lost to Justin Rose, matching a PGA Tour record.
As well as he’s playing, he’s only thinking of going as low as he can.
“Doesn’t matter what the other guys are doing,” Johnson said. “I’m just going to play my game, and I’ll be aggressive when I can be and be a little more conservative when I have to be.”
Scheffler, coming off the 12th round of 59 or better on the PGA Tour, had a 67. He played in the final group with Johnson, just like he did two weeks ago on the final day of the PGA Championship. On this day, it was a final pair of two players who had the lowest rounds in TPC Boston history. Only one of them shot golf’s magic number, and that wasn’t a topic of conversation for either of them.
“I just told him nice playing,” Johnson said.
Scheffler said his text messages included one from Ben Crenshaw, a big supporter of all Texas Longhorns.
“Yesterday was awesome and the only difference going into today was everybody was telling me good round still, and that’s pretty rare,” Scheffler said. “Once I got on the course, I didn’t think once about it.”
Johnson is going for his second victory of the year and could get to No. 1 in the world — provided Jon Rahm doesn’t finish second — for the first time since May 2019.