Dustin Johnson posts first win of the season with The Barclays on FedExCup Championship
After an amazing run through the whole season, it was about time Dustin Johnson would lift his first title for the season, The Barclays at the scenic Plainfield Country Club here on Saturday, August 27. Johnson topped the defending champion Matt Kuchar in
the first leg of the lucrative $10-million FedExCup Championship and will now move into the second episode of the event just outside of Boston.
“I feel like I've played pretty well all year but just haven't quite been able to get that win. The putter has been lacking a little bit. This week I finally rolled some putts, so this feels really good,” Johnson was later talking to the reporters.
He also admitted that the fine weather window allowed them to complete the reduced 54-hole stretch which was something no one expected as the eastern coast was being hammered by Hurricane Irene.
“We didn't really know. Coming into the day, we thought that it's not going to be great but the weather guys, they weren't really sure, anything could happen, we could have played nine and got stopped or played them all. We got lucky. The weather held up
for us long enough,” he added.
The course staff had already pulled down all the score boards and hoardings in wake of the approaching Hurricane and the impending dangers.
Johnson had remained in contention in most of the high profile events throughout the season but displayed a tendency of melt downs coming into the heat of the final rounds. He finished runner-up at the Open Championship and settled for a joint fifth at this
month’s PGA Championship.
The 27-year-old had started off the week with five-under, 66 and went over to post another two rounds of 63 and 65 on the weekend. Johnson pulled in five birdies on Saturday along with a glorious eagle at par-four, 4th to clinch the title by two
shots.
Kuchar, who won the Barclays last year, finished for an outright second with his score of 17-under, 196 on the aggregate.
Johnson has now become the only player after Tiger Woods to have won a title every year after graduating. This is the second time Johnson has won a title on the FedExCup Championship after his victory at the BMW Championship in 2010 and has now soared to
number one on the FedEXCup points table from his previous position at number 19th.
Brandt Snedeker and veteran Vijay Singh finished for a joint third with their aggregate scores of 16-under, three shots behind the leader. Kuchar was visibly disappointed with his performance on the back nine, where he gave away the lead, falling for two
consecutive bogeys at the start of the back nine.
Johnson is not only on top of the FedEXCup Rankings now but also collected a winner’s share of $1.44 million. He will now return on the course at the Deutsche Bank Championship scheduled this week.
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