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PGA Tour’s playoff pressure isn’t equal for all

AP photo by Charles Krupa / Dustin Johnson holds his trophy at TPC Boston after winning the Northern Trust on Aug. 23, 2020, in Norton, Mass. The Northern Trust has changed courses but remains the opening tournament of the PGA Tour's playoffs, which start Thursday.
AP photo by Charles Krupa / Dustin Johnson holds his trophy at TPC Boston after winning the Northern Trust on Aug. 23, 2020, in Norton, Mass. The Northern Trust has changed courses but remains the opening tournament of the PGA Tour's playoffs, which start Thursday. AP photo by Charles Krupa / Dustin Johnson holds his trophy at TPC Boston after winning the Northern Trust on Aug. 23, 2020, in Norton, Mass. The Northern Trust has changed courses but remains the opening tournament of the PGA Tour's playoffs, which start Thursday.

By DOUG FERGUSON / The Associated Press 5 min read

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A short memory is one of the greatest assets Dustin Johnson possesses, considering all the cruel circumstances he has endured on the golf course over the years.

That’s not to suggest he forgets everything.

Johnson recalled with great detail his FedEx Cup playoffs debut in 2008. The format for the PGA Tour’s postseason was different then, with 144 players qualifying for the first event and the field whittled to 120 for the next tournament. Johnson was No. 117 and feeling a rare sense of urgency.

“I actually remember on the 36th hole, I had about a four-footer to make the cut on the number, which would have gotten me into the next week. And I horseshoed it, and I missed the cut,” he said Wednesday. “So I had three weeks off.”

The pressure remained, though, because back then the fall was a time for players to finish in the top 125 on the money list to keep their PGA Tour cards. Johnson was No. 128 when he won at Turning Stone for the first of what now is 24 victories on the PGA Tour.