Northern Trust Open: Dustin Johnson secures victory in Boston and returns to top spot in world rankings

Leaderboard

-30 D Johnson

-19 H English

-18 Berger

-17 Kisner, Scheffler

-16 Rahm, W Simpson

Final day report

Dustin Johnson reclaimed the world No 1 ranking with a dominant victory at the Northern Trust as he secured his 22nd PGA Tour title.

Johnson, whose last spell at the top of the rankings was May 2019, shot a final-round 63 to finish on 30 under par - the joint-second lowest score in PGA history - and win by 11 shots from Harris English.

There was a danger the tournament would have to be completed on Monday as play was suspended due to storms, but players returned to the course after an hour-long break and Johnson wrapped up a hugely impressive win with a birdie on the last hole.

Daniel Berger finished third on 18 under par, one shot ahead of Kevin Kisner, while Jon Rahm, who Johnson will replace at the top of the world rankings, was a shot further back in fifth alongside Webb Simpson and Scottie Scheffler.

"Obviously this was a really good week," said Johnson.

"My ball striking was unbelievable. I found something on Wednesday, something just clicked. I really hit it well on Thursday, I didn't really make a lot of putts but I worked hard on my putting on Thursday afternoon and it paid off. I rolled it really nicely on Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

The Northern Trust is the first of three FedEx Cup play-offs, with the top 70 finishers advancing to the BMW Championship before a final 30-player showdown at the Tour Championship.

Johnson is yet to get his hands on the FedEx Cup - the prize for the Tour Championship winner - but his display at TPC Boston suggests he has a strong chance this year.

After breaking the tournament record for the lowest 54-hole score, Johnson started his final round with four birdies and an eagle on the front nine.

The eagle came at the par-five second while birdies followed on the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth.

A wonderful shot onto the green set up another birdie at the 12th hole as Johnson continued to look on top of his game, with only the weather temporarily halting his bid for victory.

English and Scheffler started the day as Johnson's nearest rivals but neither could get close - although English fared better with a two-under par 69 while Scheffler was one over for his final round.

Robbie Shelton shot the lowest round of the day - an eight-under par 63 - while Tiger Woods was five under for the day as he finished on six under par.

Rory McIlroy birdied two of the last three holes to finish on two under par while Ian Poulter ended in a tie for 39th on nine under.

Day three report

Dustin Johnson unleashed a powerful finish to move out to a five-shot lead in the Northern Trust at TPC Boston with a third round of seven-under 64.

The American, who led by two shots after Friday in quest of a victory that could make him world No 1, streaked away from Scottie Scheffler and Harris English on the 17th hole with a 20-foot birdie putt, and followed with a 40-footer for an eagle on the final hole.

Scheffler and English ended the third round five shots behind the world number four after shooting 66 and 67 respectively, while South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen had a 68 courtesy of birdies on the 10th, 11th, 13th and final holes.

New Zealand’s Danny Lee was tied on fifth one shot back with Americans Harry Higgs and Daniel Berger.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton had one of the best rounds of the day to finish with a one-under 63.

Hatton was in a six-way tie for ninth, the 28-year-old collecting birdies on the 10th and 11th.

He also birdied on the par-three 16th, sinking a five-yard putt, before finishing with birdies on the last two holes.

Britain’s Justin Rose and Paul Casey crept up the leaderboard to join a pack tied for 34th, with each carding 67 to finish 15 shots back from Johnson.

Day Two report

American Scottie Scheffler secured his place in the history books with a brilliant round of 59, while Dustin Johnson missed out on going even lower with some late lapses seeing him disappointed to sign for a 60.

Scheffler carded 12 birdies and no bogeys on the par-71 layout to reach 13 under par, and although Johnson would later go two shots clear of his total he could not match his magical round.

Johnson fired five birdies and two eagles in an outward nine of 27 to place Jim Furyk’s 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship – the lowest score in PGA Tour history – under threat.

The 36-year-old picked up further shots at the 10th and 11th, but that was the end of the birdie blitz in the first FedEx Cup play-off event as his hopes of a sub-60 round disappeared.

“I got off to a great start and through the first five or six holes I played really good, made some really nice putts,” Johnson told Sky Sports.

“When I made the turn with birdies at 10 and 11, you’re definitely thinking about shooting 59.

“I tried to keep playing one shot at a time, I knew I was swinging well so I just tried to keep giving myself looks.

“I had some looks coming down the stretch but I couldn’t get one to go. But I’m still happy with the way I played and I’m in a good position leading into the weekend.”

Former US Open champion Johnson would have become the 13th player to break 60 on the PGA Tour with a birdie at the 18th, but an errant drive cost him dear.

He had to lay up and his approach shot came up 15 feet short, with the birdie putt for 59 missing to the left, meaning he couldn't join Scheffler in the exclusive golfing club.

Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods all made it into the weekend right on the cut line at three-under.

Scheffler shoots 59

The 24-year-old from Texas, who finished in a tie for fourth in the US PGA Championship earlier this month, is the 12th player to break 60 on the PGA Tour, with six of those rounds coming since 2016.

Scheffler birdied the second, added four more in a row from the fourth and picked up another shot on the ninth to race to the turn in 30.

Further gains on the 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 16th left him needing to birdie the par-five 18th to break the 60 barrier and he calmly two-putted from around 80 feet from just short of the green.

Speaking after his round, Scheffler said: “I had some key up and downs at the beginning of the round that kind of got me rolling, freed me up a little bit.

“Then the momentum just kind of kept going. I never really lost momentum, which was nice.”

Day one report

England’s Tommy Fleetwood has been left to rue a disastrous end to his opening round at the Northern Trust, the first of the PGA Tour’s three FedEx Cup play-off events.

The 29-year-old had a share of the lead at TPC Boston heading into the final two holes, but a bogey at the 17th and a double bogey on the 18th forced him to finish two shots off the lead with a five-under 66.

Joining him at equal 12th on the leaderboard is fellow Briton Ian Poulter.

Needing a strong result in order to qualify for next week’s BMW Championship, Poulter got his tournament off to a strong start courtesy of six birdies, while picking up just one bogey on the day.

England’s Tyrell Hatton put together a consistent effort to finish one behind Fleetwood and Poulter, while Rory McIlroy mixed five birdies with three bogeys to card a score of two-under 69.

There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard, with Australian Cameron Davis carding a seven-under 64 to join Americans Harris English, Kevin Streelman and Russell Henley two shots in front.

Earlier, Tiger Woods recovered from a sluggish start to finish with a strong score of 68.

“I had a good feel today,” the 44-year-old said. “I had nice pace and I like the speed of these greens. They’re fast. Even though they’re soft, they’re still quick.

“I just felt comfortable. That’s one of the weird things about golf. It’s just the way it is sometimes.”