Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson

Northern Trust Open: Dustin Johnson defeats Jordan Spieth in a play-off to claim the title


Dustin Johnson claimed a dramatic play-off victory over Jordan Spieth at The Northern Trust.

The Northern Trust final leaderboard

-13 Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson (Johnson won at first play-off hole)

-9 Jon Rahm, Jhonattan Vegas

-6 Paul Casey

-5 Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Kevin Chappell, Webb Simpson

Scroll down for collated scores

Day four report

Dustin Johnson edged through an epic final-round tussle with Jordan Spieth to snatch a dramatic play-off victory at The Northern Trust.

Spieth began the day as Sky Bet's 2/5 favourite but he let a five-shot lead slip away during a classic contest at Glen Oaks Club, with 4/1 shot Johnson holing a lengthy par-save at the last to close a four-under 66 and join the Open Champion on 13 under.

The world number one nailed his drive at the first extra play-off hole, before flicking a wedge to less than four feet and rolling in the birdie putt to secure his fourth victory of 2017.

Jon Rahm birdied the 18th to join Jhonattan Vegas in a share of third spot, while last year's FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy stuttered to a two-over 72 to end tied-34th.

Taking a three-shot lead into the final round, Spieth extended his overnight advantage to five strokes with a two-putt birdie at the third and a 35-foot gain at the fifth.

Johnson failed to make the most of his early birdie opportunities but found himself back three off the pace when Spieth found water off the sixth tee and double-bogeyed.

Johnson then rolled in from seven feet to birdie the ninth, as Spieth missed from five feet to reach the turn with his lead down to one.

A 10-foot birdie at the tenth from Johnson pulled the contest all-square, with Rahm firing a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th to briefly get within one of the final group.

As Spieth and Johnson exchanged birdies at the 13th, Rahm saw his challenge ended when a bogey at the 15th dropped him back alongside Jhonattan Vegas at nine under.

The Open champion edged back ahead with an eight-foot gain at the 14th, only for Johnson to immediately bounce back and hole a 15-footer at the par-three next.

Spieth squandered a six-foot birdie opportunity at the 16th but got up-and-down from a greenside bunker at the next to make a 20-foot par-save, keeping the pair tied heading to the last.

Johnson found rough off the final tee but layed up and drained a 15-footer for par, as Spieth two-putted from distance to close a one-under 69 and take the contest to extra holes.

A bogey-free 65 from Vegas set the early clubhouse target at nine under, matched by Jon Rahm after the Spaniard's 68, with Paul Casey claiming outright fifth despite a one-over 71.

PGA Champion Justin Thomas posted a one-under 69 to end the week tied-sixth alongside Jason Day, Kevin Chappell and Webb Simpson, with Justin Rose and Louis Oosthuizen in the group a further stroke back.

Final round collated scores

USA unless stated (par, 70)

267 Jordan Spieth 69 65 64 69, Dustin Johnson 65 69 67 66 (Johnson won at first play-off hole)

271 Jon Rahm (Spa) 68 68 67 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 69 65 72 65

274 Paul Casey (Eng) 69 68 66 71

275 Jason Day (Aus) 69 71 68 67, Justin Thomas 68 69 69 69, Kevin Chappell 68 73 64 70, Webb Simpson 73 66 71 65

276 Justin Rose (Eng) 68 68 69 71, Matt Kuchar 71 64 68 73, Patrick Cantlay 67 70 69 70, Bubba Watson 67 68 71 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 72 68 69, Chez Reavie 69 68 69 70, Robert Streb 71 70 66 69

277 Charley Hoffman 72 70 70 65, Xander Schauffele 71 66 72 68, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 72 67 69

278 Jason Dufner 69 69 68 72, Harold Varner III 67 70 71 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 69 69 69 71, Rickie Fowler 68 66 74 70, Patrick Reed 70 67 66 75

279 Scott Brown 66 74 67 72, Jason Kokrak 71 69 70 69, Kyle Stanley 70 71 72 66, Russell Henley 64 72 70 73

280 Kevin Na 71 71 69 69, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 73 70 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 70 71 69, David Lingmerth (Swe) 71 68 68 73

281 Daniel Berger 69 68 72 72

282 Luke List 70 70 74 68, Whee Kim (Kor) 69 69 70 74, Pat Perez 70 68 71 73, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 73 68 69 72, Martin Flores 67 73 69 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 71 72 73

283 Chris Kirk 66 73 71 73, Lucas Glover 69 71 72 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 70 69 72

284 Keegan Bradley 68 70 66 80, Scott Stallings 71 70 70 73, Hudson Swafford 70 72 71 71, Vaughn Taylor 71 70 75 68, Kevin Tway 70 71 70 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 69 70 73

285 Richy Werenski 70 71 72 72, Brooks Koepka 72 68 73 72, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tpe) 70 69 69 77, Luke Donald (Eng) 71 71 72 71, Ryan Moore 72 69 72 72

286 William McGirt 69 71 74 72, D.A. Points 72 66 74 74, Phil Mickelson 72 68 71 75, Tony Finau 72 68 69 77, Wesley Bryan 70 72 69 75, Rod Pampling (Aus) 71 71 75 69, J.J. Spaun 71 68 72 75, Kevin Kisner 69 72 70 75

287 Grayson Murray 72 68 71 76, Ryan Blaum 68 72 71 76, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 69 73 75, Charles Howell III 69 71 74 73

288 Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 70 74 73

289 Chad Campbell 70 71 70 78, Morgan Hoffmann 71 69 70 79

292 Sean O'Hair 72 70 76 74

295 Kelly Kraft 67 74 78 76

Day three report

Open champion Jordan Spieth is a hot favourite to win The Northern Trust after taking a massive step towards his fourth win of the season with a brilliant third round of 64.

Spieth began the day in a four-way tie for the lead and recovered from a bogey on the first with birdies on the third, fifth, seventh and eighth before surprisingly three-putting the ninth from just eight feet.

The three-time major winner bounced back with his fifth birdie of the day on the 10th and carded three more in succession from the 14th to finish 12 under par, three shots ahead of world number one Dustin Johnson.

Spieth had been four clear until Johnson birdied the 18th to complete a 67 and move two ahead of Paul Casey, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar.

Spieth's odds were chopped into just 2/5 by Sky Bet following his round. It's then Johnson at 4/1 and 25/1 bar.

Spieth, who has won each of the five times he has enjoyed a lead of two shots or more after 54 holes on the PGA Tour, admitted a "heated putter" had been crucial to his success.

"I've been striking the ball well this year," the 24-year-old told Sky Sports. "Today was about the most committed I've been finishing a round - Michael (Greller, his caddie) said ever - and I agreed with him.

Jordan Spieth holds a strong lead heading into the final round

"(We) committed to targets that were away from holes, knowing I'm in the lead and knowing the putter is getting hotter each putt I hit. That last six-hole stretch I played beautiful golf."

Casey put his 66 down to a simple tip from coach Peter Kostis, the world number 17 finishing strongly with three birdies in his last six holes.

"I saw Peter on the range this morning and he said I was standing too far away from the ball," Casey said. "I moved closer to the ball and the ball-striking was wonderful today.

"Peter always tells me 90-something per cent of the time the reason for a bad shot is something you do before you even hit the ball, whether that's set-up, posture, grip, bad decision... this week has been an example of that."

The top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week's event will advance to the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston, where Rory McIlroy is the defending champion.

McIlroy, who also won the overall FedEx Cup title last year, carded four birdies and three bogeys in a 69 to get back to level par for the tournament.

American Lucas Glover suffered a strained patella tendon as his right foot slipped on his second shot to the 18th, but the former US Open champion said he intended to play Sunday's final round. Glover is two over par after a 72.

Day two report

Three of the world's top players sit at the top of the Northern Trust leaderboard at the halfway mark.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth is the 3/1 favourite to lift the trophy with Sky Bet. World number one Dustin Johnson (7/2) and Rickie Fowler (4/1) also sit on six under along with Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas (25/1).

Spieth was in imperious form, shooting through the pack with a five-under-par 65, which contained seven birdies, including five in a row on the back nine.

Vegas also shot a blemish-free 65 to move up 19 places, while Fowler carded a 66 and Johnson, who was one shot off the overnight lead, went round in 69.

Matt Kuchar, runner-up at the Open, shot the round of the day with a seven-under-par 64, made all the better by the fact he was two over for his round after seven holes.

Kuchar can be backed at 14/1 in Sky Bet's odds.

The American fired six birdies on the back nine to get to five under overall.

Bubba Watson (25/1) is also on five under while England's Justin Rose (18/1), Spaniard Jon Rahm (16/1) and first-round leader Russell Henley (40/1) are all on four under.

It was a better day for Rory McIlroy, who opened with a three-over-par 73 on Thursday. The Northern Irishman sank three birdies and a bogey in his 68, which saw him make the cut by a single shot on one over.

Day one report

Rory McIlroy struggled to a three-over-par opening round of 73 at the Northern Trust Open in New York on Thursday.

The 28-year-old, who decided to continue his bid for the overall FedEx Cup title despite a persistent rib injury, carded six bogeys and three birdies at Glen Oaks Club and is now a 66/1 shot with Sky Bet to lift the trophy on Sunday.

It left the four-time major winner well off the pace of early pacesetter Russell Henley, who took the clubhouse lead after an opening six-under round of 64 and he is 12/1 to go on and claim victory.

The American is one shot clear of world number one Dustin Johnson, who sank six birdies and a solitary bogey and is no bigger than 5/2 to win for the fourth time this season.

FedExCup points leader Hideki Matsuyama (100/1) also struggled as he finished his first round one stroke worse than McIlroy on four over.

McIlroy carded a bogey five on the first hole before returning to par with a birdie on the second. He then repeated the pattern with bogeys on the fifth and seventh and birdies on the sixth and eight.

However, three more bogeys on the back nine - on the 10th, 13th and 17th holes - left him three over for the day.

McIlroy finished in a tie for 22nd in the US PGA Championship earlier this month which completed a third successive year without a major title, and the former world number one later said he was in two minds about competing again in 2017.

But after seeking the advice of sports scientist Steve McGregor in Northern Ireland, McIlroy was told he could not make the injury any worse and will try to win the overall FedEx Cup title - and USD 10million (£7.8million) bonus - for the second year in succession.

England's Justin Rose is on two under, along with US PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler while Jordan Speith is on one under.

Related links

Sky Bet's latest Northern Trust odds