Dustin Johnson will take a one-shot lead into the third round of the Tour Championship after he shot an even-par 70 at the PGA Tour finale on Saturday.
The world No 1 started the second-round action at East Lake Golf Club on 13 under par and level with Spaniard Jon Rahm after an entertaining first day at the final event of the FedEx Cup.
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But, Saturday’s second round provided much more of a test for the players as many of them struggled to find their rhythm throughout the day.
Johnson was able to make some big putts and roll in four birdies over his 18 holes but unfortunately he made to pay for a few errors that saw him concede as many bogeys.
The cruelest of cruel. pic.twitter.com/pTiovxMpe3
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 5, 2020
Despite the tough round, Johnson is however still pretty pleased with his current lead and is confident at the halfway mark of the Tour Championship.
‘It feels good, especially since I feel like I’ve really grinded the first two rounds. Even with that being said, I’ve had a lot of putts from inside 10 feet that I’ve hit really good putts that didn’t go in.
‘It was just one of those days where I shot even, but I had five or six putts that horseshoed on me. With not playing that great — it wasn’t that I didn’t play great, I just didn’t hit it very good off the tee,’ he said.
He holds a slender lead over South Korea’s Sungjae Im, who rocketed up the leaderboard thanks to a spectacular 6-under-par 64 in his second round on Saturday.
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Im, who is looking to cause a major upset by coming out on top on Monday, will head into the third round just one shot behind Johnson on 12 under par.
Back-to-back birdies for Sungjae Im.
He gets to within 2 shots of the lead at the @PlayoffFinale.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/SZ539keTBl
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 5, 2020
Xander Schauffele is another player, who surged up the leaderboard on Saturday after he produced a 5-under 65 that moved him into 3rd spot at the end of the day and on 11 under par for the event.
Rahm, who is seen as Johnson’s biggest challenger to win the FedEx Cup, suffered a bad day out on the course that cost him vital ground as he slumped to 9 under par after a disappointing 4-over-par 74 for his second round.
