Top-ranked Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan played in a twosome in round three of the BMW Championship, second event of the PGA Tour playoffs, and they will be side-by side again in the final round.
DJ, the FedEx Cup points leader, and Matsuyama both carded 1-under-par 69s and are tied for a two-stroke lead as the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago continues to challenge the best golfers in the world.
Only the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings were eligible for the BMW, although sixth-ranked Webb Simpson who also is third in the points decided to skip the event, and the top 30 will advance to the Tour Championship next week to determine the 2020 FedEx Cup champion.
“I felt like I played really good golf today, hit the ball well and had a lot of really good putts that just didn’t go in,” said Johnson (pictured), who tied for second recently in the PGA Championship. “The golf course is playing really tough; the greens are hard and fast, and the rough is deep.
“But I really like the way I’m playing right now and if I hit fairways and greens tomorrow, I feel like I have a really good chance to win. I really have some good swing thoughts and if I can keep doing that, I like my chances.”
Johnson, who claimed his 22nd PGA Tour victory last week in The Northern Trust to open the playoffs, was 1-over for the day before playing the last 13 holes in a flawless 2-under with birdies on the eighth and 15th holes to match Matsuyama at 1-under 209.
They are the only two players in the field under par.
Matsuyama, who entered the week 18th in the point standings and led after a first-round 67, holed a greenside bunker shot from 37 feet on the first hole, then had three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way in his 69.
“I had a great start and then just had to hang on,” said Matsuyama, who has won five times on the PGA Tour but not since the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “I just tried to do what I could to stay in it, and I was happy with how it went.
“It was a different wind today, the wind direction was different, so it played different, but I’m very happy with how I played and how it went. I played great these three days, so I just need to hit the ball well tomorrow and putt well, and see where I’m at.”
Joaquin Niemann, the 21-year-old from Chile, shot 67 and is two strokes back in a tie for third with Mackenzie Hughes of Canada, who made bogey on the last hole of a 68, and Adam Scott of Australia, who also finished off his 70 with a bogey.
Second-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain posted a 66 that was low score of the day despite a penalty stroke on the fifth hole when he absent-mindedly picked up his golf ball without marking it.
“I was thinking of somebody else or something else … and yeah, I just picked up the ball without marking it, simple as that,” Rahm said afterward. “I can’t really give you an explanation. It’s one of those things that happen in golf. Never thought it would in my professional career, but here we are.
“ … I was holding my marker in my pocket, just went at it, and for some reason I just picked up the ball thinking I marked it already.”
Rahm is three shots behind in a tie for sixth with defending FedEx Cup champion and fourth-ranked Rory McIlroy (73) of Northern Ireland, Sebastian Munoz (67) of Colombia, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson (70), Kevin Kisner (70) and Brendon Todd (71).
Ninth-ranked Patrick Reed is tied for 26th after a 72, while fifth-ranked Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and Cal, the PGA champion, shot 68 and is in a tie for 37th that includes 10th-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State, who had a 74.
Third-ranked Justin Thomas, the 2017 FedEx champion, totaled 71 and is in a tie for 43rd that includes eight-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis, who finished at 75.
Two-time FedEx Cup champion Tiger Woods was 1-under for the day until hitting his tee shot into the water en route to a triple-bogey 7 on the 17th hole and his 72 left him in a tie for 55th.
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