A stunning stretch of recent play from Dustin Johnson culminated on Monday at the Tour Championship when the World No. 1 shot a two-under 68 to close out a three-shot victory and claim the FedEx Cup title.
Just how good a run has Johnson been on? Starting at the PGA Championship in August, the 36-year-old finished second-first-second-first in his last four starts, which allowed him to lock down the season-long title he’d flirted with on various occasions during his career. (He had finished in the top five in the FedEx Cup five times before 2020.)
Of course on Labor Day Monday, that DJ would win the PGA Tour postseason title seems like a foregone conclusion. The feat, however, becomes even more impressive when you step back and look at the entirety of Johnson’s 2019-’20 season.
For instance, take a guess at where Johnson stood on the FedEx Cup points list when the tour resumed play in June after the three-month break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Johnson arrived at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth for the Charles Schwab Challenge, he sat in 105th place in the standings. And when he missed the cut in that first event, he fell even further, dropping to 115th.
How could this be? Well, recall that Johnson didn’t play any fall events after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage damage in September 2019. It wasn’t until the Presidents Cup in December that he returned to action. Then after posting a T-7 finish in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, he sat out another four weeks before playing at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Johnson played just twice more before the season shutdown. Properly healed then when he returned in June, a T-17 finish at the RBC Heritage pushed him to 103rd on the points list, before his win at the Travelers Championship vaulted him to 22nd.