Johnson, Casey earn redemption at BMW
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2010 BMW Championship | Round Four | 13 Sep 2010
Dustin Johnson has put behind him the horrors of the US Open and the US PGA by edging out Paul Casey to win the BMW Championship at Cog Hill in Lemont in Illinois.
A last round implosion at Pebble Beach and the high drama of a lost opportunity on the 72nd hole at Whistling Straits seemed a long way from Johnson’s mind. He produced an exquisite birdie at the 17th and a rock solid par at the 18th to defeat Casey by one and K.J. Choi, Kevin Na, Matt Kuchar and third round leader Ryan Moore by three.
A final round of 69 in breezy conditions was enough to edge ahead of Paul Casey who himself was seeking redemption for a previous knockback after being left out of the European Ryder Cup team.
For Johnson though it had been a case of learning from his past mistakes especially those at Pebble Beach.
“Pebble taught me a lot, I think. That’s where I learned the most as I think after getting off to a rough start, I kind of maybe got a little fast. I played – everything starts moving fast in a situation like that. You know, so I really learned to be patient and not rush things.”
“I didn’t rush any shot today. You know, I took my time, took practice swings, even when I – a few times I felt myself trying to rush a little bit, but I would stop, put my club back in the bag and come back and go through my routine and just take things slow.”
“I know I’ve had some failures, but I don’t know if I’d call them failures. I’ve had a few mishaps. But still, today to come back and get it done, I’m very proud of myself. I think I’ve handled everything very well, and now I’ve got to look forward to two weeks from now in Atlanta.”
Paul Casey’s performance clearly delighted him especially knowing that it is a direct response to Colin Montgomerie’s decision to leave him out of the Ryder Cup side. Was that a motivation? “Yes” he responded. Would he care to elaborate? "No I can’t go there unfortunately."
Kuchar retained his position at the top of the FedEx Cup points table with a share of third despite battling an illness for much of the week.
“I’m really happy with my performance this week, considering how bad I was feeling. I wanted to pull out of the tournament. I wanted to not play. I wanted to go home and get some rest in, and to be able to battle through and have a top 5 finish – I’m really pleased with it.”
Phil Mickelson finished 8th and eats further into Tiger Woods’ lead in the world ranking. He gets another chance to make further progress in that regard in Atlanta as unlike Woods he will be there.
Although Woods finished 15th this week he had not done enough to make it to the top 30 while Mickelson is currently 10th in the FedEx Cup points race. Sunday in Atlanta might prove a very big day for Mickelson and world golf.
The Australians were led by last year’s runner-up Marc Leishman who finished 11th but unfortunately he will not make it to Atlanta as he had done in his rookie season in 2009.
Adam Scott was the next best in 15th position while Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Robert Allenby and Michael Sim finished 24th.
Jason Day could only manage 54th this week but he leads the Australians into the Tour Championship in 6th position in the FedEx Cup race. He will be joined in Atlanta by Scott, Ogilvy and Allenby.
