OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (AP) – For a guy who can make golf look easy, Dustin Johnson can’t remember a victory more difficult.
He was five shots behind Jordan Spieth through five holes of the final round at The Northern Trust. He caught up to him in five holes, setting up a classic duel between two of the biggest names in golf that came down to the very end at Glen Oaks Club.
And then it became hard again for Johnson.
He turned away in disgust when his tee shot on the 18th hole peeled away to the right, up a slope and into thick grass. Johnson couldn’t figure out how to get it out of a nasty lie to an elevated green guarded by two deep bunkers, so he surprised even Spieth by laying up and trusting his wedge game. Only when he climbed the hill and saw his ball 18 feet from the hole – Johnson thought it would be closer – did he wonder if this wouldn’t be his day.
“I knew I was going to have to make it when I walked up there,” Johnson said. “I thought I hit a better shot than that. I thought my par putt was going to be much closer. It ended up being the right distance, I guess. I mean, it went in.”