GOLF US TOUR NEWS:AMERICAN DUSTIN Johnson won the BMW Championship, third leg of the FedEx Cup play-off series, by one shot from Paul Casey in Chicago last night. Johnson finished with a 69 for a total of 275.
Casey had turned on the power and the style to take an early lead but then the bleeding started. Left out of Europe’s Ryder Cup team despite being the world number nine, Casey gave himself the chance not only to win his second title in America, but also to move to sixth in the rankings by going to the turn in just 32 shots.
It lifted the 33-year-old from joint sixth overnight into a one-stroke advantage over Americans Johnson and Ryan Moore.
Casey holed from 12 feet at the second, from seven feet for another two on the sixth and then from 18 feet two holes later.
Another birdie was there for the taking after two huge hits just short of the green on the long ninth, but he played a clumsy chip and had to settle for a five.
But the Englishman then dropped shots at 13 and 14, and was in trouble at the 15th.
Casey steadied with three closing pars for a fourth consecutive 69, but behind him Johnson hit a 94-yard pitch to two feet on the 17th and by holing for birdie went into a one-shot lead.
Also playing together were Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and the US Masters champion had much the better of things. Mickelson shot a four-under 67 to climb into the top 10, while Woods managed a 70.
While that was not enough for Mickelson to replace Woods at the head of the world rankings he was the one progressing to the Tour Championship in a fortnight.
A hat-trick of bogeys in the middle of the back nine, meanwhile, had almost certainly ended Rory McIlroy’s interest in the play-offs. The 21-year-old Ulsterman was in 36th spot after a 69 had given him a three-over aggregate.
McIlroy was three under for the day with seven to play, but then came three costly dropped shots from the 12th, and birdies at the 15th and 17th for a 69 appeared to have come too late to save him.
US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin insists he is not afraid to drop Woods.
Pavin chose the world number one as one of his wild picks last week but refuses to guarantee that Woods will play in all his five possible matches against Europe at Celtic Manor when the tournament starts on October 1st.
Pavin said: “Tiger told me he will do whatever is necessary to help the team win and that is going to be my call and I will probably be making that decision a little bit on the fly, but I’m not afraid to not play him every match, that’s for sure.”
Woods has struggled at times with the foursomes and fourballs format on the first two days of the Ryder Cup, most famously losing both matches on the first day when paired with Phil Mickelson as the so-called Dream Team in 2004.
Pavin said: “I am going to treat every player the same.
“The objective is to try to win the Ryder Cup and if in my judgement I think Tiger is to play five matches, or should play four or three then that is what I will do – that’s my call as captain and I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
LEADING SCORES
275- Dustin Johnson 68 70 68 69.
276- Paul Casey 69 69 69 69.
278- Ryan Moore 65 74 66 73; Matt Kuchar 64 72 70 72; K.J. Choi 71 69 69 69; Kevin Na 70 69 69 70.
279- Retief Goosen 67 71 71 70.
280- Charlie Wi 67 69 70 74 ; Phil Mickelson 72 71 70 67; Steve Stricker 70 73 67 70.
281- Camilo Villegas 70 70 71 70; Marc Leishman 72 65 72 72.
283- Tiger Woods 73 72 68 70.
