Sips of Maginnes: We've seen this Johnson show before
By John Maginnes, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
LEMONT, Ill. -- Stop me if you have heard this before, but Dustin Johnson needed a par on the 72nd hole Sunday to win an important golf tournament.
This time he avoided bunkers, penalties and all sorts of unsavory things and hoisted the trophy in the BMW Championship. So now it's on to Atlanta with a great chance to win the FedExCup. Johnson, who has played in the final group on Sunday five times already this year, becomes the sixth multiple winner of the season and plants his name in contention for Player of the Year.
DUSTIN JOHNSON IS THE GUY Carl Spackler was talking about in "Caddyshack." Remember, "He's the Cinderella story, uh -- tears in his eyes I guess as he lines up this last shot, he's got about 195 yards left, he's got about a -- it looks like he's got about an eight-iron." Back in 1980 that was comedic hyperbole. In Dustin Johnson's world of 2010, though, 8-iron is part of the discussion with 195 left. He hit 8-iron on the sixth hole on Sunday when the par 3 was playing 188. If that doesn't impress you, how about the 369-yard drive that he hit at the par-4 fifth?
THE LAST TIME THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca Cola was conducted without both Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh in the field was 1994. (Vijay missed the final playoff event last year for the first time in the stretch while Tiger was absent in 2006 and 2008, the latter following his knee surgery.) This is also the first season of Tiger's career in which he failed to win a golf tournament. The conclusion of the BMW Championship makes it one full calendar year since Tiger won on the PGA TOUR while the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship was the two-year mark for Vijay.
THERE WAS AN ALL-ENGLISH penultimate trio on Saturday at the BMW Championship. Although Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey struggled out of the gate, the afternoon was considered a success when they had crumpets with their afternoon tea. They may have even saved 15 percent on their car insurance, too. When the International Federation of PGA Tours got together to create the World Golf Championships they universally agreed the globalization of the game was a good thing. So what could be more international than three Englishmen playing in a golf tournament in the United States that was sponsored by a German automaker?
PAUL CASEY IS HEADING to neutral territory the week of the Ryder Cup. He will be mountain biking in Canada while the two sides square off at Celtic Manor. Casey has handled the snub with extreme class. Casey's Twitter page has essentially gone silent since the decision. What more could he add? He is the highest-ranked snub in Ryder Cup history.
ONE MORE NOTE ON PAUL CASEY. This speculation that Casey didn't do enough on the European Tour to qualify for the team is fine until you look at two of the three who were selected by Captain Colin Montgomerie. Paul has played 12 events that qualify for the season-ending event in the Race to Dubai in December (one week before the 2011 campaign starts). Luke Donald has played 11 and Padraig Harrington has played nine. Considering the large number of top players from Europe who have committed to play most of their golf in the United States next year, including a few newly minted major champions, in my opinion it would be wise of the European Tour to figure out a way to accommodate these players rather than punish them for their decision.
COG HILL HAS TRADITIONALLY thrown a wrench in Phil Mickelson's works. He had never had a top-10 at the Dubsdread Course either before or after Rees Jones renovated the place a couple of years ago. So there was little reason to expect Phil to have a good week this year at the BMW Championship. He was critical of the golf course early in the week -- but then Lefty was paired with Tiger on Sunday. He said Tiger "brings out the best in me," and that was certainly the case. Phil shot 67 in the final round, propelling him to his first top-10 since the U.S. Open and first-ever top 10 in the BMW Championship.
Former PGA TOUR player John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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