BMW Championship. D.J. Cruises To Victory.

 

D.J. Dustin Johnson cruises to victory in the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick Gold Club.

Dustin Johnson.

D.J. shot a final round -5 under par 67 to win the BMW Championship title with a -23 under par total. He poke about his stellar year;

“Finally getting my first major, that was a big deal and kind of kick-started my year.”

“I enjoy being in the hunt and having to hit really good shots when you need to.”

 “I felt like the last few times I’ve been there I’ve hit some great golf shots to finish it off.”

Paul Casey chased all the way, but had to settle for second place, the same as last week. Paul also carded -5 under par 67 in the final round, his total -20 under par was three shots off the lead, which was where he started the day;

“It’s just wonderful to be playing this sort of golf. I played this sort of golf years ago.”

 “I always felt that I could produce it again.”

“I ran into a buzz saw with Dustin Johnson the last two days, I did everything I could.”

Roberto Castro finished in third place, after surviving a bizarre incident when it looked like his ball had dropped into the lake, in reality in was on the bank, it was a frog that jumped into the lake.

Roberto also carded a last round -5 under par 67, for -17 under par total;

“I felt like I got off to a good start today and I kind of kept the pedal down all day.”

World #1 Jason Day  withdrew from the final round with a back injury, just precautionary measures, to make sure he would progress towards the prize of the FedExCup.

BMW Championship. D.J. Has Three Shot Advantage.

 

D.J. Dustin Johnson has a three shot lead to take into the final round of the BMW Championship tomorrow, at Crooked Stick Golf Club.

Dustin Johnson / getty

Dustin had a third round -4 under par 68 today, with a birdie at the last, to post -18 under par for the BMW Championship, which takes him three shots clear of the field.

There is no doubt about where the transformation is coming from, his putter;

“The strength this week has been putting,.

“I’m rolling it really nicely. Even the putts that I’m missing still look like they’re going in.”

“I was putting good with it and right before we were about to tee off on Thursday, I’m like, `AJ, don’t you have the same one in black?’ And he says, `Yeah.’ And I said, `Go get it.’

“I just didn’t want to use the same putter Jason was, like, the exact same one. That was really the only reason I changed.”

Paul Casey is in second place, those three shots back at -15 under par, he also carded -4 under par 68 today, he said he had a front row seat watching J.D.;

“We had a front row seat for something very special, and I’ll get a front row seat for it tomorrow.”

“Not much you can do, he’s got maybe the best attitude in golf. When he gets on his game, maybe the best ball-striker in golf. Maybe the longest. And he showed it today.”

“So, if he keeps doing what he’s been doing; what he averaging, 6 under a day?  if does the same tomorrow, there’s no catching him.”

J.B. Holmes also shot -4 under 68 today, which took him up the leaderboard to third place at -14 under par.

Roberto Castro went backwards today, +2 over par 74 dropping him to -12 under for the competition, and fourth place. More worryingly for him he also drops back into the bubble for not qualifying for next week, where only the top 30 players on the FedExCup standings get to play. He is currently projected in 32 spot, so will need a very good round tomorrow to progress.

Deutsche Bank Championship. Rory Returns To The Winners Circle.

 

Rory McIlroy returns to the winners circle at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Rory / getty

Rory carded a final round -6 under par 65, in very windy conditions, to claim the Deutsche Bank Championship trophy, with a -15 under par total, a two shot victory, with good putting being the key;

Rory now moves into third position on the World Rankings;

“Things can turn around very quickly in this game, I think those last 15 holes on Friday were definitely a turning point.”

“Not just in this tournament, but maybe in my season.”

“It’s just incredible, this game, how quickly things can change, It’s been a great lesson for me this week not to get down on myself, to stay patient.”

After three holes Friday, there was so much going through my head, and none of those things involved sitting beside a trophy.”

“I wasn’t getting impatient. I wasn’t searching, I know that I hadn’t won on the PGA Tour in a while,.

“But over the past 12 months, I’ve still had three wins worldwide.”

“I knew my game was in good shape, I just needed to do something with the putting.”

“I found something. I still need to keep going with it. It’s definitely not the finished article, but it’s a big step in the right direction.”

Paul Casey started the day with a three shot lead, but that soon evaporated as he struggled round the front nine. He finished in second place at -13 under par, after his last round +2 over par 73.

Paul was frustrated with his last round performance;

“Wow, very impressive. Yeah, that’s a might round of golf.”

“I struggled a little bit from the get-go and it’s hard to regain rhythm and make your birdies if you started out that way, so I found it incredibly difficult.”

“I battled well, did a lot of things brilliantly all week, but obviously frustrated.”

Jimmy Walker was third, a final round -1 under par 70 giving him a -12 under par total, and third spot on his own.

 

Deutsche Bank Championship. Paul Casey Cruising.

 

Paul Casey is cruising along at the top of the Deutsche Bank Championship leaderboard at TPC Boston.

Paul Casey / getty

Paul carded a third round -5 under par 66, that’s three rounds of 66, to top the Deutsche Bank Championship leaderboard with a -15 under par total, which gives him a three shot advantage going into the final round tomorrow. A near Albatross on the par five 18th, it missed by inches, gave Paul an easy tap in Eagle.

Brian Harman is in second place, those three shots back at -12 under par, a -3 under par 68 giving him that place on his own.

Sharing third place are Smylie Kaufman, -3 under 68 today, Jimmy Walker, -1 under 70, and Kevin Chappell, who could only scrape through the day with an even par round of 71. They all have -11 under par totals for the tournament.

Deutsche Bank Championship.Kevin Chappell Leads.

 

 

Kevin Chappell leads the Deutsche Bank Championship after 36 holes at TPC Boston.

Kevin Chappell / getty

Kevin shot a second round -7 under par 64 to take the lead in the Deutsche Bank Championship at the half-way stage, with a -11 under par total.

Kevin has not yet found a way to win on Tour;

“This year’s been great. I think it’s shown that my growth personally has paralleled my growth in golf. but the first part is more important to me.”

“It’s been six years and $10 million (in prize money) and I haven’t been able to do it.”

 “But there are a lot of guys who have had great careers and haven’t been able to win.”

“If I’m going to define my career on that I’m probably setting myself up for failure.”

Paul Casey, -5 under 66 today, and Jimmy Walker, who matched the leaders low round of the day -7 under 64, share second place at -10 under.

Brian Harman is fourth, -6 under 65 giving that place on his own at -9 under par.

Rory McIlroy improved his putting and made the cut, shooting -4 under 67, which put him T 30;

“The recovery has been good, it wasn’t the best way to start yesterday, but I stayed patient.”

“My game’s good and numbers are going to happen like that [triple-bogey at the 12th on Friday] once in a while.”

“I just need to pick off my birdies and that’s what I did yesterday to get back to even par.”

“It was a bit of a mixed bag on the front nine, but I was really happy to shoot 67 to put myself back in to the tournament.”

World number one Jason Day made the cut on the number, and is currently T 62 at -1 under par.

Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson both missed the cut, which fell at -1 under par.

 

WGC Cadillac Match Play. Darkness Defeats Rory & Paul.

Darkness finally defeated Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey in their quarter-final game at the WGC Cadillac Match Play in San Francisco.

Paul & Rory / Getty Images

After 21 holes could not separate Rory and Paul, the impending darkness did, forcing the pair from the TPC Harding Park course. All square after 18 holes they moved into a sudden death play-off, for a spot in the semi-finals, against Jim Furyk.

The late start and the extra holes preventing Rory from taking his seat at the MayPac fight in Las Vegas. He had  a chance to snatch victory at the third play-off attempt at the 16th hole, he blamed the deepening gloom for missing the putt;

“Probably, this obviously could have been avoided if we went off a little earlier.”

“But it’s just the position that I’m in.”

“That’s fine. I have to do it. It’s the position I’m in and I’ll be here at 6:45 in the morning.”

“I’ll try and come out fast and win that hole and try to advance to the last four.”

Paul was ducking and diving, but could have won it in regular time, but missed an 8ft putt on the 17th;

“I dodged a couple of bullets, but I also felt like I gave him one, too. I’m glad we’re teeing off tomorrow, simple as that.”

The quarterfinal playoff will resume early at No. 1 hole on Sunday morning, with the winner advancing to play Jim Furyk in the semifinals.

Jim defeated Louis Oosthuizen 4 & 2, while Gary Woodland dispatched John Senden 5 & 3. Tommy Fleetwood was on the wrong side of a 4 & 3 defeat to countryman Danny Willett.

Danny will face Gary in the semi’s, and Jim will have to wait to see who he has for an opponent on Sunday morning.

Jim said he likes the new format;

“I think there can be tweaks, but I like the format better than in the past.”

“That’s a little bit of a homer thing, too, because I’ve never made it this far.”

As Rory could not make it to Vegas for the big fight, he had to watch it in the media center.

Rory watching MayPac fight

 

Honda Classic. Two Brits Tied at the Top

The third round finally got completed and two Brits sit at the top on the Honda Classic leaderboard, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter as the final round gets suspended due to darkness.

Ian Poulter / Getty Images

Poults has played seven last round holes and Paul nine, both sit on top of the Honda Classic leaderboard at -7 under par for the title as the tournament heads into a Monday finish.

Poults had his problems in the final round today, he shanked his tee shot on the par 3 fifth and watched helplessly as it bounced off a cart path and plunged into the water, it ended in a double bogey. He followed that by pulling his next tee shot into the water before eventually settling for bogey, and would not report his words to the press. He followed that experience with a birdie on seven;

“It’s not for newspaper or Internet worthy, I was pissed. I was seriously pissed.”

“It was a lack of concentration, I tried to take too much off an 8‑iron and hit a beautiful shank.”

“I was internally very angry, shall we say. And when I do that, obviously my heart rate goes up slightly and obviously that sometimes is what it needs to kick in the adrenaline.”

“So the shot on 7 was fueled with adrenaline, because I was so pissed off.”

“It was a good swing, I guess it’s been a long day, a long few days and I was just saying to my son, Luke, right there, look what happens when you forget to concentrate. Silly things happen.”

“Tiring, and made a couple of really bad swings on 5 and 6. But that kind of angered me inside enough to spark a little bit of energy there to hit a good shot on 7.”

Paul wanted to keep going, he hates a break in momentum;

“I thought the wind was favorable, so I thought I would get on with it, the lie is not great. I might be against the collar in the rough.”

“It just breaks up momentum, some guys will carry it through to Monday. Others won’t and that’s very difficult to predict.”

“You just hope you wake up tomorrow and you feel like you’ve got the same kind of golf swing and the putts are going in the hole.”

“I never like to look back, but I feel like when I was playing some great golf in 2009, 2010, it feels like that kind of stuff.”

“Probably even more so than that time in my golf career because off the golf course, I’m so relaxed and happy with where I’m at with (wife) Pollyanna and (son) Lex.”

“It feels great. I think the combination of being extremely happy off the course and confidence on the course, I think I’m maybe playing as good golf, if not better than I’ve played in the past.”

Patrick Reed is in third position at -6 under par, so far in his final round he is at even par through seven holes, but it will be  long day tomorrow, with a lot at stake and the pressure will be on everybody.

There is a posse of five players at -4 under par, including Phil Mickelson, so anything could happen.