Johnson in a league of his own, as Woods finds form ahead of BMW Champs

Dustin Johnson, winner of Northern Trust. Pic: Getty Images/ PGA Tour

Aug 24: Dustin Johnson seemed to be playing a different tournament as he completed one of the phenomenal victories of his career, winning the Northern Trust by a whopping 11 shots. Playing his final two holes in near darkness after play was stopped because of a storm delay, Johnson parred the 17th and birdied the 18th to complete a round of 8-under 63 and reach 30-under for the week. His brilliant form over the week yielded rounds of 67-60-64-63 for a total of 254 over four days at Norton in Massachusetts.

Johnson’s 22nd victory on the PGA TOUR career and his fifth FedExCup Playoffs event also carried him to the top of the World rankings and the FedExCup standings.

The next man was Harris English (69) at 19-under 265 and Daniel Berger (67) was third at 18-under. Scottie Scheffler, who shot 59 in the second round and was second after third round, slipped to Tied-4th as his caddie took ill midway through.

Johnson fell short by one of the PGA Tour scoring record of 31-under par by Ernie Els at the Par-73 Kapalua Resort Plantation Course in 2003, and the total of 253 at the Par-70 Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii by Justin Thomas at the Sony Open in 2017.

In a week where 5-under was hardly something to write about, Tiger Woods still took some positives as he closed the week with 5-under 66 as he goes into next week’s BMW Championship. Coming into the Northern Trust placed 49th, Woods slipped to 57th and needs to finish inside Top-30 to get to the Tour Championships he won in 2018 to signal his return.

“I wish I would have played a little bit better this week to make it a little bit easier on me next week to try and get into East Lake,” said Woods, who qualifies for the BMW Championship for being Top 70.

Woods hit 10 of 14 fairways and 16 of the 18 greens, but took 31 putts, including some long ones.

If Woods plays well at the BMW Championship and gets into the TOUR Championship, it will be a busy stretch with the Tour Championship, two Majors and his own tournament, the Hero World Challenge.

Missing out on the BMW and the Tour Championship are players like Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Ian Poulter, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley and Brandt Snedeker,

 

Popov overcomes a life of struggles with a dream Major win at Troon

 

Aug 23: Germany’s Sophia Popov scripted an unlikely dream story as she rose from a player without a status on either LPGA or the Ladies European Tour to win one of the biggest prizes in women’s golf, as she won the AIG Women’s Open at Troon in Scotland.

Ranked 304th prior to this week, the 27-year-old Popov came into the event on the strength of a Top-10 finish at the LPGA”s Marathon Classic two weeks ago. She held her nerve to shoot a final round of three-under 68 to total seven-under 277 and win by two shots over Thailand’s Thidappa ‘Jasmine’ Suwannapura (67). Australia’s Minjee Lee (69) was third at three-under during a week when only five players totalled under par and only six played par or better at the famous Ayrshire links.

Popov became the first German woman to win a Major, and only the third, male or female, after Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymer, to win a Major.

Popov revealed that her little-known career was full of struggles, including health problems. Till three months ago she was playing on a mini Tour, the Cactus Tour, in Arizona, US, the only place where competitive golf was still on during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She won three times in nine starts on Cactus Tour and her total prize for the three wins was $ 8,800, while she scooped $ 675,000 and then during an emotional and virtual press conference she told this writer that she did not even know what the winner’s cheque was worth.

 

Langasque comes from 5 behind to win Wales Open to get to US Open

 

City of Newport, Wales, Aug 23: Romain Langasque stormed to victory at the ISPS Handa Wales Open as he rallied from a five-shot deficit with a brilliant bogey free 65 and won his first European Tour title on a dramatic final day.

The win brought with it a spot on the US Open next month at Winged Foot. The conclusion of the Wales Open also saw the finalising of the Top-10 of the mini Order of Merit on the UK Swing. The top ten golfers not already exempt on that list, including Scotsman Connor Syme and runner up Sami Välimäki of Finland, have now secured their berths at Winged Foot.

Earlier in the week, the two Indians in the field, Shubhankar Sharma and Shiv Kapur missed the cut.

Langasque produced six birdies to surge through a congested leader board and finish at eight under, two shots clear of Finn Sami Välimäki, who carded a 69. English duo David Dixon and Matthew Jordan finished at five under, a shot clear of countrymen Laurie Canter and James Morrison, and Swede Sebastian Soderberg.

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