As Dustin Johnson walked off Firestone South on Sunday, he was FaceTiming with his fiancée, Paulina Gretzky, and was caught on camera saying, “I found him.” He was referring to Tatum, their young son who, along with the nanny, had unknown whereabouts for a bit.
Johnson’s been finding everything recently. He recently found the right mindset and mental state after stepping away from the game. Two weeks ago, he found his first major championship at the U.S. Open.
And on Sunday, he found his first Bridgestone Invitational championship, firing a 4-under 66 for the second consecutive day to finish at 6 under for the tournament and overtake Scott Piercy (5 under), world No. 1 Jason Day (3 under) and the field.
“I feel like if I’m hitting it in the fairway, then I’m going to be very tough to beat,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m wedging it well, and out here if you get it in the fairway, you get a lot of wedges in your hands. … The last couple weeks my putter, I’m making the putts that I’m supposed to make. That’s the big difference in me finishing a lot of top fives that I’ve had to this year to winning a few.”
Johnson began the final round 3 strokes off the pace set by Day and Piercy and was 5 strokes behind after Day eagled the par-5 No. 2. He remained 3 behind as he walked up to the tee on No. 13 and then rattled in back-to-back birdies against the struggling leaders to eventually finish 1 stroke ahead of Piercy and at least 3 strokes ahead of everyone else.
“I felt like I had a chance when I birdied 13 and 14,” Johnson said. “I knew then I’ve probably got a good chance. I needed to finish with some good scores. But I knew I had a chance then.”
Johnson, still trailing for nearly the entire day, made his final move on the 71st hole of the tournament just as Day ran into trouble on the 667-yard, par-5 16th.
Day bogeyed No. 15 and approached Firestone South’s signature hole at 6 under, tied with Johnson. But his tee shot went errantly left and under a tree, setting up a challenging recovery just to save par and retain a share of the lead.
Moments later, Johnson continued his hot hand with the putter and drained a 16-foot birdie on No. 17 to move to 7 under and take his first lead of the tournament just as Day was crouched under a branch.
After hearing the roar from the crowd one hole over, Day’s second shot — an attempt to get it back onto the fairway and save par — careened across the fairway and into the gallery on the right side.
Then came the decisive blow. Day attempted to rip his third shot up the neck of the fairway that wraps around the pond in front of the 16th green. He nearly pulled it off but didn’t get enough of it and watched his ball slowly roll down the ridge and into the water.
“I hit a good shot, [but] I just didn’t hit it hard enough,” Day said. “[There was] really kind of one hole that derailed me, which was 16. … I thought I had the right play. … Sometimes you take those risks and it doesn’t pay off.”
Barring a miracle, his chances of overtaking Johnson sank to the bottom of the pond with the ball. Day could only double-bogey the 16th from there, falling 2 strokes after Johnson bogeyed No. 18.
Still with a chance but needing to finish his round with two birdies, he also bogeyed No. 18 to finish 3 under for the tournament and in a tie for third with Jordan Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell.
Johnson’s bogey on the 18th didn’t matter. Piercy made par at No. 16, but it came after he had bogeyed three of the previous four holes to drop to 4 under. Piercy’s second-place finish was his second in a row, matching his finish at the U.S. Open.
“Even though I didn’t have my best stuff today, I still had a chance to win really, or close to,” Piercy said. “You know, I’ll definitely learn a little bit from it so I can apply it to next time. … Overall I’m happy about the week. A little disappointed I didn’t win, but it’s a positive.”
William McGirt, Charl Schwartzel and David Lingmerth finished the tournament in a tie for seventh at 2 under, making it only 10 players to leave the Bridgestone Invitational under par.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ