JOHANNESBURG – American Dustin Johnson moved to world number one following his win on the PGA Tour on Sunday.
The US Open champion moved to the summit of the golf rankings having won five and had 30 top-10 finishes in his 50 ranking events over the rolling two-year ranking period.
He is the 20th world number one since the rankings started in 1986. Johnson turned a marathon finish into a Sunday stroll in the Genesis Open on the PGA Tour. He finished the third round in the morning with a seven-under 64 to build a five-shot lead, stretched it to nine shots at one point in the final round and coasted home to a 71 and a five-shot victory.
"It sounds good," Johnson said when asked about being the top player in the world. "I played really great all day. I couldn't have driven it any better. That was a big key.” Johnson ended Aussie Jason Day's 47-week stay at the top.
"He deserves it because he's been playing great golf," Day said. Johnson won for the fourth time against some of golf's strongest fields dating back to his U.S. Open victory last year. All he cared about Sunday was winning at Riviera, one of his favourite courses where he has had chances in four of the last five years. There was no doubt this time. Johnson went 49 straight holes without a bogey, a streak that ended on the ninth hole in the final round, and he was sloppy down the stretch when it no longer mattered.
It capped off a strong stretch that elevated Johnson to the top. Not only was it his fourth victory since June, he has finished among the top three in eight of his last 16 tournaments.
“It’s no surprise to us players, and I don't think too much surprise to many others," Jordan Spieth said. Spieth ended his streak of 19 consecutive rounds under par on the PGA TOUR – and 27 rounds worldwide – with a 72 in the third round. Johnson finished at 17-under 267. About the only disappointment was losing a chance to break the oldest 72-hole scoring record on the PGA TOUR schedule.
Lanny Wadkins won at Riviera in 1985 at 20-under 264. Johnson reached 20 under with his 21st birdie of the week on the par-three sixth hole. Having made only one bogey all week, he finished with three over the last 10 holes.
"I didn't finish the last 10 holes the way I'd like to, but I had a pretty good lead. I was on cruise control," Johnson said. He still had no complaints. He scooped up his two-year-old son, Tatum, on the 18th green. Johnson's fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, announced on Instagram earlier this week they are expecting their second child.