OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois. – Dustin Johnson has 21 fewer shots than he was a week ago and still happens to be the player to beat.
Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama survived some other non-easy day at Olympia Fields, either scraping a 69 bass that felt better than him for Saturday’s lead percentage at the BMW Championship.
All above average for the final round.
Sunday is a last chance for some players to be in the most sensible 30 ahead of the FedEx Cup final, and a definitive circular for others, such as Tiger Woods, to prepare for the US Open in an equally difficult course.
Patrick Cantlay hit just five streets and failed to make a birdie by falling into a lead tie with a 75-shot race that could charge him for a spot in the Tour Championship.
Rory McIlroy had to play left-handed to escape the base of a tree at the start of the last nine with a bogey, and ended with a shot he thought was long, but was given 70 feet short and led to a 3 putt bogey. a 73. Il still only 3 shots back, assuming he played.
McIlroy said that after the tour, his wife was expecting his first child, news they had shared with a circle of family and friends still revealed on NBC. He said he partly explains his wandering spirit in recent weeks and that his younger, more productive friend, Harry Diamond, had a phone on in his bag.
And if it’s time, he said, “I’m getting out of here. “
Jon Rahm tied the low lap of the day at 66, which could have been better at once if it wasn’t for a mistake that even he couldn’t believe. He forgot to put a marker on the green before lifting his golf ball. at No. 5, frozen dry when he learned what had happened.
“I was thinking of someone else or anything else Array . . . and yes, I just picked up the ball without scoring it, as undeniable as that,” Rahm said after a circular that left him with only 3 behind. For you. It’s one of the things that happens in golf. I never imagined that would be the case in my career, but here we are.
The BMW championship is still at stake, and if Sunday stands firm, it will be more about holding on than retiring. Eleven players were separated by 3 strokes.
Johnson and Matsuyama were 209 years old.
A week ago at the Northern Trust in a windy rainy field, Johnson 22 was on par in three rounds and had a five-stroke lead. That’s not the case.
Johnson had a three-shot swing opposite him in the opening hole when he went hard to rough in the bunker and made a bogey, while Matsuyama made a bunker shot for the eagle. 4. He made a birdie the rest of the way.
Joaquin Niemann was 68 and in the organization more than 211 that included Adam Scott (70) and Mackenzie Hughes (69). Rahm, Bubba Watson, Brendon Todd and Kevin Kisner, who had 16 pairs, a birdie and a bogey for their 70-bit circular, also returns the punch.
Rounds like that spend a lot of time at Olympia Fields, the former US Open course playing like one with its thick, rough vegetables and enough wind to make fairs tighter than they are.
Woods, meanwhile, had a moderate start to his circular and didn’t lose much floor until he lost an exit hit in the water to the right of 17th Street, then drowned a street steel on the left. The stick opposed the cement and he twice needed to break it, missed a short putt for triple bogey and fired 72.
Woods has yet to achieve parity this week. One more lap like this and it will be the first time in 10 years, the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, which will have all 4 laps above par. I needed something around fourth place to advance to the circuit championship for the first time since 2018. .
Matsuyama tries to finish three years without winning. Johnson seeks to win for the time being in seven days, while positioning himself as the most sensible seed in the Tour Championship, which would allow him to start the tournament with a two-stroke lead below the staggered start.
For players like Niemann, Hughes and Scott, they’re just looking to get to East Lake in Atlanta. Everyone is on a turn on a golf course where small mistakes can lead to bogeys or worse on almost every single hole.