LAS VEGAS — Dustin Johnson won the LIV Golf League's tournament at Las Vegas Country Club in windy and chilly conditions Saturday, pulling ahead with a birdie on No. 17 and closing with a par to edge fellow American players Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein by a stroke.
Johnson shot a 1-under-par 69 to finish the 54-hole, 54-player tournament at 12-under 198. In his third LIV career win, he broke out of a late six-way tie on another day with the temperature barely climbing into the 50s at an event played in the shadow of Super Bowl LVIII, with the NFL's big show set for Sunday at nearby Allegiant Stadium.
Johnson opened with a birdie on the par-5 first hole, then dropped back with bogeys on Nos. 6, 9 and 11.
"Tough day. Got off to a little bit of a rocky start," said the 39-year-old Johnson, a two-time major champion who won 24 times on the PGA Tour before leaving for the Saudi-funded circuit when it debuted in June 2022. "I was hitting really good shots, they were just ending up in poor spots. I was hitting the shots I wanted to, I just was not playing the wind right."
Johnson rallied with birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 17 — holing a 12-footer on the par-4 17th — and made the par save on the par-4 18th for the victory, hitting to 12 feet from the rough and two-putting.
"I was struggling with the putter a lot and then this year the first two events I've putted quite nicely, just making all the putts I need to make," Johnson said. "Like the one on 17, obviously, was a clutch putt that I needed to make there if I wanted to take a one-shot lead."
Gooch shot a 67 and Uihlein finished with a 68.
Gooch lost three strokes in two holes with a bogey on No. 9 and a double bogey on No. 10, then recovered with birdies on Nos. 14, 16 and 17 and 1.
"I actually didn't hit it that great today, but I made a few putts out there, so the putter got hot at the right time," he said.
Uihlein bogeyed 16 and birdied 17.
"I hit it all over the shop," he said. "It was hard. It was a grind. Putter bailed me out a lot. Short game bailed me out.'
Johnson has won in each of LIV's first three seasons, triumphing via playoffs in September 2022 in the Boston area and last May in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"The game is feeling in really good form for this early in the year, and so I'm excited for the rest of the year," Johnson said. "Obviously, got a big stretch coming up with Saudi, Hong Kong, come back, Doral and then the Masters."
Matthew Wolff (69) finished fourth at 10 under, a shot ahead of Graeme McDowell (65), Paul Casey (68) and Jason Kokrak (69). Jon Rahm (71), No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, was eighth at 8 under in his second LIV start.
Bryson DeChambeau, tied for the second-round lead with Johnson after each shot a 62 on Friday, had a 74 to drop into a tie for ninth at 7 under.
In the team competition, Gooch, Kokrak and McDowell led captain Brooks Koepka's Smash GC to a seven-stroke victory over Johnson's 4Aces GC.