Dustin Johnson soars to top spot in world golf rankings
Dustin Johnson is now the top ranked golfer in the world. Wikimedia Commons
Replaces Jason Day thanks to big win in Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club
by Ron Patey
February 19, 2017 at 10:20 PM February 19, 2017 at 10:20 PM
Golf has a new king of the hill. It's Dustin Johnson. The big-hitting bomber from South Carolina grabbed the top spot in the World Golf Rankings from Jason Day of Australia after he blew away the field during the third round of the Genesis Open at riviera country club, and then coasted to the finish line to salt away the victory by five shots over Thomas Pieters of Belgium. Johnson carded a stellar bogey-free 7-under 64 in his third-round birdie assault on Riviera that was played as part of a 36-hole day because a massive storm had blasted the U.S.
west coast on Saturday resulting in the suspension of play.
Johnson continued his strong performance on the front nine of the fourth round when he reached 20-under for the tournament and had an eight-shot bulge over second-place before getting a little swing twitchy on the back nine. It was no big deal as he was able to easily close the deal despite carding back-to-back bogeys at holes No. 15 and 16 while on his way to posting a cruise-control even-par score of 71. The victory gave Johnson the career milestone of having captured at least a single victory in each of his 10 seasons on tour. He also moved up into the sixth spot in the FedExCup standings after being 33rd last week.
The race for second only drama
Meanwhile, the only real drama happening during the tournament turned out to be the race for second. Pieters snagged a piece of the runner-up pie after posting a terrific 8-under 63 for the final round to get him into T2 with Scott Brown of the U.S. Justin Rose of England, the Olympic gold medalist, put together a solid tournament as he ended up T4 on 11-under 273 with Americans Wesley Bryan, Kevin Na, and Charley Hoffman.
Cameron Tringale cost himself a few bucks when he made double on the 72nd hole to slide from a second-place tie to T8.
DeLaet top Canuck in field
Graham DeLaet led the five Canadians in the field with a T17 finish. Next was Adam Hadwin of Moose Jaw, SK, a member of the tour's 59 Club, at T34 and he was followed by Nick Taylor of Winnipeg, MB, at T55. David Hearn of Brampton, ON, and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, ON, failed to make the cut.
Ron Patey
Ron Patey covered the golf industry for 21 years as a special sections editor with Sun Media. During the past six years, Patey has been a golf writer for Examiner.
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