This is how they plot out all the best mini-series. At the close of one chapter, leave ’em with high drama and wide-eyed surprise. And always – always – leave ’em wanting more.
There was Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson on Sunday outside Chicago, engaged in the most heated kind of battle their sport can provide until they start playing golf in a steel cage. The world’s top two-ranked players intersected at a playoff semifinal, bombs falling left and right. The biggest explosion was saved for the end, Rahm winning it in overtime over Johnson with a reality-bending 66-foot birdie putt.
How could you not want more?
So happens that the DJ and Rahmbo Show continues, as the top two contenders for the season-ending FedEx Cup Championship are paired in the final twosome for at least the first two rounds of the Tour Championship at East Lake. Programming note: They first launch at 2:20 p.m. Friday.
There is little reason to believe they will not once more push each other to do something worthwhile. “We’ve played together a lot, and I do think we bring out the best in each other,” Rahm said earlier this week.
“Dustin is a great guy to play with. He has a very similar game to mine. We actually see shots very similarly – shot shape and strategy. I usually like playing practice rounds with him because I can learn a little bit. He’s fast. He’s quiet. He’s fun if he wants to talk. His caddie, (brother) A.J., is really fun, as well. It’ll be a good environment. I wouldn’t be surprised if we both play good this week if we’re playing together.”
In both cases, as befitting their world rankings, they come to East Lake with games all shiny and primed. Both have two PGA Tour victories this year, each with a playoff victory apiece. Johnson won two weeks ago in Boston by going 30 under and putting 11 strokes between himself and second.
A first-hand witness to that massacre was former Georgia Bulldogs player Harris English, paired with Johnson that Sunday in Boston.
“I felt like I got off to a good start. I think I was 4 under through eight holes and lost ground on him,” English said. “He was in a different gear. He wasn’t just trying to win the tournament. He was trying to set records. He had this goal starting out the day. I think we were walking up No. 17, and he was like, yeah, the whole day I was trying to get to 30 under. And damn if he didn’t birdie 18 to get to 30 under. It was incredible to watch. He never took the foot off the gas. I mean, he was going at every pin. He had no fear at all. He had nothing to worry about.”
Ranked No. 1 in FedEx Cup points coming into the finale, Johnson will be the chief beneficiary of a staggered scoring system, propped atop the scoreboard at 10 under before the first shot it struck. No. 2 Rahm begins at 8 under. Lowest score at the end of the week claims the FedEx Cup championship and $15 million.
Last year, the trial run of this scoring system, Justin Thomas was Mr. 10 Under, which guaranteed him nothing. He finished third that week.
Thomas declined to offer Johnson the wisdom of his experience. “I don’t want to give him any advice or things that I wish I would have done better,” said Thomas, who’ll begin Friday at 7 under as No. 3 in FedEx Cup points standings.
“DJ will have to experience it,” Thomas added. “He’s proven that he plays really well with the lead, so I’m sure it won’t make much of a difference to him. But yeah, it was tough for me last year. So I hope it is for him a little bit, too.”
Like the main characters in any three-act play, the Johnson-Rahm pairing provides some interesting contrasts, too.
Body types are certainly different, Johnson the whippet to Rahm’s bullmastiff.
More marked is the divergent course personalities. Johnson is as outwardly impassive as an Easter Island statue. And while he has made great strides in tamping down his internal magma, Rahm is known to go actively volcanic after a bad turn on the course.
“We’re different people. I would never be able to do what he does, and I don’t think he can do what I do,” Rahm said.
“I wouldn’t be able to play so nonchalant like he is,” Rahm continued. “If I hit a bad shot, you’re going to be able to tell. And if I hit a good shot like I did on Sunday, you’ll be able to tell, as well. He also wouldn’t be able to play with what goes on in my head. Obviously that steadiness has helped him be an extremely consistent player and win a lot.
“I know I’m improving (in temperament). If anything I can take from (Johnson), it’s that just perseverance and the stillness he has. Even under pressure he can maintain that composure and that coolness and get it done.”
There are 28 other players who may have something to say about how this long Labor Day weekend unwinds. But if the last two guys to tee off Friday continue their brilliance in tandem, all those other intentions may be rendered irrelevant.
The guy at 10 under has some definite plans. In 11 trips to the Tour Championship, Johnson, whose lack of a FedEx Cup title is a gap in an otherwise victory-crammed career, has been all over the map. That includes his share of disappointment. He shot all four rounds over par and finished 29th last year. A final-round 73 cost him his best chance of winning a FedEx Cup in 2016.
“I’ve had a whole mixed bag of finishes here,” Johnson said. “I either play really well or I play really terrible. It’s just one of those things. Obviously I think that has to do with how the game is during the week or coming into this week.”
Pause for dramatic effect. And add a small, knowing smile.
“I feel like I’m going to play it well this time around,” he said.
About the Author
