Dustin Johnson said he is targeting a lengthy stay at the top of the world rankings after reclaiming the number one spot with a 11-shot victory at the Northern Trust Open on Sunday.
The 36-year-old American became the fifth player to be ranked number one this year after he leapfrogged Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy following his dominating display at TPC Boston. Brooks Koepka was also No1 this year.
Johnson last held the number one ranking in May last year: “It’s something that I’m very proud of is to be number one in the world, and I’d like to stay there for a little while,” Johnson told reporters.
“Obviously it’s been jumping around a bunch here the last few months, but the last time I was number one, I think I stayed there for quite some time, and that’s another goal of mine is just to see how long I can stay at number one.”
The Northern Trust Open was the first of three playoff events that culminate with the September 4-7th Tour Championship in Atlanta and the $15 million prize to the FedExCup champion.
Only the top 70 in the standings after this week go on to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields outside Chicago, and from there the top 30 move on to Atlanta.
Johnson said he was determined to finish as the season’s champion for the first time in his career.
“It’s something I haven’t won. It’s something I’ve been close to winning a few times, and it’s just something that I would really like to have on my resume when I’m done playing golf,” he added.
“It’s a big title. It means a lot to all the guys out here. It definitely means a lot to me.”
Two weeks after entering the last round of the PGA Championships with a one stroke advantage and unable to close the deal, Johnson was under far less pressure at TPC Boston but he but he ensured there would be no repeat, turning a five shot 54-hole cushion into a commanding 11 stroke victory.
If anyone in the field was harboring thoughts of reeling in Johnson, he quickly put those to rest when he opened his round with an eagle on the par five second and added four birdies to go six-under on his outward nine.
From that point the only one rain on Johnson's party was from Mother Nature who forced a weather delay with two holes to play. Johnson completed his round with a birdie on 18 for an eight-under 63 and a winning total of 30-under 254, leaving Harris English a distant runner-up on 19-under. Daniel Berger (67) finished alone in third 12 off the pace with Kevin Kisner (66) and Scottie Scheffler (71) one further back.
Collated final scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 71):
254 Dustin Johnson 67 60 64 63
265 Harris English 64 66 66 69
266 Daniel Berger 66 66 67 67
267 Scottie Scheffler 70 59 67 71, Kevin Kisner 65 66 70 66
268 Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 67 67 65, Webb Simpson 70 64 68 66
269 Alex Noren (Swe) 69 68 64 68, Russell Henley 64 67 70 68, Ryan Palmer 67 67 68 67
270 Harry Higgs 67 66 66 71, Brian Harman 67 66 73 64
271 Charley Hoffman 65 68 68 70, Jason Kokrak 68 68 70 65, Robby Shelton 66 71 71 63, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 65 68 73, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 68 68 66 69
272 Danny Lee (Nzl) 66 64 69 73, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 68 66 69, Talor Gooch 66 72 65 69, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 68 70 68 66, Bubba Watson 65 68 67 72, Matt Kuchar 69 69 66 68, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 65 71 69 67
273 Justin Rose (Eng) 69 70 67 67, Xander Schauffele 68 71 67 67, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 67 71 63 72, Corey Conners (Can) 72 65 69 67
274 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 70 69 65 70, Mark Hubbard 67 71 68 68, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 67 68 69 70, Scott Piercy 65 70 70 69, Cameron Davis (Aus) 64 65 72 73, Wyndham Clark 68 71 67 68, Keegan Bradley 68 67 69 70, Troy Merritt 72 67 70 65, Tyler Duncan 69 69 69 67, Cameron Tringale 67 72 67 68
275 JT Poston 71 67 66 71, Adam Schenk 70 66 71 68, Kevin Na 71 65 73 66, Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 67 73 69, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 68 64 70 73
276 Brendan Steele 68 67 69 72, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 64 73 70, Matthew Wolff 65 67 77 67, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 66 69 71 70, Charles Howell III 66 70 68 72
277 Zach Johnson 69 69 67 72, Beau Hossler 73 66 66 72, Chez Reavie 68 70 67 72, Justin Thomas 68 67 71 71, Denny McCarthy 69 68 69 71, Adam Long 68 67 72 70, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 69 67 71, Rickie Fowler 67 70 71 69, Patrick Reed 68 71 68 70
278 Tiger Woods 68 71 73 66, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 70 75 67, Lanto Griffin 68 68 70 72
279 Maverick McNealy 67 71 70 71, Keith Mitchell 69 68 72 70, Kevin Streelman 64 71 73 71
280 Brendon Todd 70 66 70 74
282 Rory McIlroy (Irl) 69 70 74 69, Scott Harrington 68 67 76 71
283 Andrew Landry 69 70 69 75
285 Richy Werenski 69 67 75 74
286 Matt Jones (Aus) 68 71 76 71
291 Patrick Rodgers 71 67 76 77
