POWERFUL OFF THE tee and relentless with the putter, Dustin Johnson didn’t give anyone much of a chance by finishing with a five-under-par 67 to win the BMW Championship by three shots and move to the top of the FedEx Cup.
Johnson won for the third time in his last eight tournaments and this might have been his most complete performance.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in every part of my game,” Johnson said.
Paul Casey was runner-up for the second straight week after losing to Rory McIlroy at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His consolation, along with $1,836,000 in those weeks, was the fifth seed at the Tour Championship in two weeks. That means he only has to win at East Lake to capture the $10 million bonus.
Rickie Fowler won’t have any chance at all. He closed with a 71 and finished 59th at Crooked Stick. He was bumped out of the FedEx Cup top 10 by the smallest margin in the competition’s 10-year history — 0.57 points behind Charl Schwartzel, who closed with a 64.
The timing is particularly bad for Fowler because Davis Love III makes three of his captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup on Monday, with another one right after the Tour Championship. Fowler won’t have another chance to audition, though he might get picked on Monday, anyway.
Asked if he had done enough to be picked, Fowler said, “I would like to think so.”
“I’ve done basically everything I can do as far as schedule and playing,” said Fowler, who left the Olympics to play the following week on the PGA Tour.
It would have been nice to play better to make the pick a lot easier on him. But whether he has his mind made up or is still thinking, that’s up to him.
JB Holmes tied for fourth, key for him because he also needs a captain’s pick to play in the Ryder Cup.
“I feel like I played well enough to get that shot,” Holmes said. “We’ll see.”
Roberto Castro holed out for eagle from the seventh fairway on his way to a 67 to finish alone in third.
All this activity was far more compelling than the actual tournament, for Johnson never looked as though he was going to lose — no matter how well Casey played. Johnson already has introduced a fade to his powerful driving. He dialed in his wedges earlier this year, and is now among the best. And he changed to a different putter this week to help him start the ball on line, and it worked magnificently.
Matt Kuchar closed with a 71 and tied for fourth, along with Ryan Palmer (70), Adam Scott (71), Schwartzel and Holmes.
– Doug Ferguson, Associated Press
