Dustin Johnson is the leading candidate for the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year award and he’s trying to wrap it up.
DJ, ranked second in the world, blistered Crooked Stick Golf Club for a course record, bogey-free 9-under-par 63 to tie Roberto Castro for the lead midway through the BMW Championship, the third of four events in the FedEx Cup playoffs, at Carmel, Ind.
“I guess no one was ever better than 63 (at Crooked Stick),” Johnson, who switched putters in the first round, said simply when told of the record. ” … I believe the guy that wins is putting it the best.
“I was just struggling (on the greens) to get the ball to come out on the line I was seeing. No matter what I did, how much I practiced, training aids, whatever. It just wasn’t working. So just decided to switch it up.”
Johnson, who has won the U.S. Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational among his 13 finished in the top 10 this season, holed a bunker shot for an eagle at No. 9 and sank a 26-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole en route to a 36-hole total of 14-under 130.
Castro, seeking his first PGA Tour victory, birdied five of the first nine holes and carded a second straight 65.
Paul Casey of England, who was second behind Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland last week in the Deutsche Bank Championship, posted a bogey-free 65 and was three strokes back in third, while J.B. Holmes totaled 65 and was another shot down in a tie for fourth with Chris Kirk, who had a 66.
Ryan Palmer birdied seven of the last 10 holes to shoot a bogey-free 64 and was seven strokes behind in a tie for sixth with Matt Kuchar, who had a 69, and Sergio Garcia of Spain and Kevin Na of Diamond Bar, who both at 68s.
Sixth-ranked Adam Scott of Australia recorded a second 69 and was tied for 10th, eight shots back, with seventh-ranked Bubba Watson, who had a 67, Daniel Berger, who wound up at 68, and Brian Harman, who came in at 72.
Top-ranked Jason Day of Australia put up a 67 and was 10 strokes behind in a tie for 19th that included third-ranked McIlroy and fourth-ranked Jordan Spieth, who both finished at 72, and eighth-ranked Patrick Reed, the FedEx Cup points leader, who wound up at 70.
