COLUMBUS, Ohio – Peter Uihlein won the Web.com Tour Finals-opening Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on Sunday to earn a PGA Tour card.

Uihlein closed with a 6-under 65 on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course to beat former Buckeyes player Ryan Armour by a stroke.

Uihlein earned $180,000 to wrap up a PGA Tour card as a top-25 finisher in the four-event series. The 28-year-old former Oklahoma State player from Massachusetts has played four seasons on the European Tour, winning the 2013 Madeira Islands Open. He entered the week 12th in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

“There’s so many good events now in Europe,” Uihlein said. “It’s really tough. I got to sit down and look at both schedules. I just don’t know. I don’t know next year’s schedule in Europe. I haven’t looked at the PGA Tour schedule. Right now, I don’t know where I’m going to be playing, but I’m going to try and do both and see what happens.”

Uihlein finished at 14-under 270.

“This is a proper test,” Uihlein said. “You got to drive the ball well. You got to hit your irons well. And it’s a shame that it rained because that first day was phenomenal for how fast the greens were, how difficult it was. It changed your mindset a little bit, you need to make some birdies. But it’s not a walk in the park.”

The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings – Armour was 159th – along with Uihlein and other non-members with enough PGA Tour money to have placed in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup had they been eligible.

The top-25 finishers on the Web.com regular-season money list have earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings.

Armour finished with a 70. He earned $108,000, more than enough to regain his PGA Tour card.

“Mission accomplished,” Armour said. “The job was to get back to the tour, and that’s what happened. I already have a start in Napa, So, that is something that you can take as a positive, and old Scarlet here, I mean she’s tough, and I finally got a little piece of her. But the old girl is a really hard golf course.”

Andrew Landry (68) and Tom Lovelady (70) tied for third at 11 under and each made $58,000. Landry already has a PGA Tour card through the Web.com money list, while Lovelady was 29th in the regular season.

Five-time PGA Tour winner Ben Crane tied for sixth at 9 under after a 68. Six-time PGA Tour winner Hunter Mahan also shot 68 to tie for 13th at 5 under. Crane, 147th in the FedEx Cup standings, made $34,750, and Mahan, 182nd in the FedEx Cup standings, earned $18,750.

Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., finished as the top Canadian at 5 under par to close with a share of 13th.

CALGARY – Scott McCarron didn’t waste any time after missing a long putt for birdie on the final hole Sunday.

In front of a large gallery of fans at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, McCarron walked right up and tapped in a short, but nerve-wracking putt, to win the 2017 Shaw Charity Classic title.

“It felt like 20 feet,” said McCarron, who held on for a one-shot victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez after shooting a 3-under 67 in the final round. “It was probably about three feet or so. It was kind of a right-centre putt. I didn’t take much time over it, because I saw it go right by and I knew exactly what I was going to do.

“I just missed a couple short ones before, so I didn’t want to even think about it too long. I set it up and made a good putt finally. It really felt good to get that done.”

McCarron had three birdies and two bogies on the front nine before draining a long putt from off the green at the par-5, 11th hole for eagle. It was the third eagle of the weekend for McCarron and the 17th of his season to lead the PGA Tour Champions circuit in that category.

McCarron then birdied the 15th hole before giving a shot back with a bogey on 16. He finished with two straight pars to end the three-day event at 16-under 194 to take home the winner’s share of $352,500 U.S.

It was the fourth PGA Tour Champions tournament victory of the season for the 52-year-old golfer from La Quinta, Calif., who earlier won titles at the Allanz Championship, the Constellation Senior Players Championship and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

“Winning does not get easier,” stressed McCarron. “These guys are the best players in the world at their time and they’re still playing some great golf. I truly believe we’ve got 25 guys that can still play on the PGA Tour and compete.”

Jimenez had a chance to eagle the final hole, but he just missed his long putt and had to settle for a birdie and a round of 66 to finish in second spot by himself.

“I knew I had to hole the putt if I have any chance,” said Jimenez, while adding he wasn’t able to sink enough putts in the final round. “Scott is playing very well and holed very important putts for him and that’s the key.”

Scott Dunlap and Todd Hamilton both had rounds of 67 on Sunday to finish in a tie with first-round leader Kevin Sutherland at 13 under.

Sutherland followed up a birdie on the third hole with an eagle on the fourth to move into a tie with McCarron at 14 under before falling out of contention.

“Momentum is only as good as the next shot,” Hamilton said. “I just didn’t string together the shots today. I wasn’t able to have a lot of good birdie opportunities and I had a lot of trying to save pars most of the day.”

Although he had respectable rounds of 67 and 68 in the first two rounds, 2014 Shaw Charity Classic winner Fred Couples withdrew from the tournament on Sunday before his tee time due to ongoing back issues.

Vancouver’s Stephen Ames finished as the top Canadian in a tie for 19th spot with Kirk Triplett at 7 under after shooting a final round 68.

“I wasn’t hitting the ball great for the first two days, so I kind of did well with what I had,” Ames said. “Considering the fact I was 7 under, I think I’ll take it. I’m quite happy with the result.”

Rod Spittle, of Niagara Falls, Ont., shot his second straight round of 69 to finish the tournament in a seven-way tie for 25th at 5 under.

Victoria resident Jim Rutledge made four birdies and an eagle to get to 6 under before recording two bogies in his final four holes to shoot 66. He finished the tournament in a tie for 40th place with nine other golfers at 3 under.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Stacy Lewis won for Houston.

Lewis ended a long winless streak Sunday at Cambia Portland Classic, with her $195,000 in winnings going to the relief efforts in her hometown area. Her two biggest sponsors also stepped up, with KPMG matching her donation and Marathon Oil kicking in $1 million.

“Probably was more pressure, to be honest,” Lewis said. “Honestly, I think that’s what helped me through the week, just knowing people wanted me to do well. People wanted me to win this for Houston. To do it when I added pressure to myself is a pretty good, pretty cool deal.”

The 32-year-old Lewis, from The Woodlands just north of Houston, won her 12th LPGA Tour title and first since June 2014, ending a frustrating stretch that included 12 runner-up finishes. She closed with a 3-under 69 to hold off In Gee Chun by a stroke at tree-lined Columbia Edgewater.

“Just kind of handed over control and said, ‘Take me. Take me to the finish line. Let me know what happens, God,”’ Lewis said. “It was just amazing how when you let go of the control like that how great you can play.”

Lewis embraced and kissed husband Gerrod Chadwell, the University of Houston women’s golf coach, on the 18th green. She didn’t know he had made the trip to Oregon until he appeared on the green – after hiding out in the Golf Channel tower during the round.

“I was fine until he showed up, and then I started crying,” Lewis said. “You go through all the emotions of finishing second when sometimes it’s your fault and sometimes it’s not, and things just don’t seem to ever go your way and you get really frustrated at times. He went through all of that with me, and it was probably as hard on him as it was on me. So just to have him here and get to share the win with him was pretty special.”

The couple lives at the Golf Club of Houston – the site of the PGA Tour’s Shell Houston Open – in Humble.

Lewis parred the final 11 holes. She got up-and-down from off the green on the par-4 17th and reached the green on the par-4 18th from a fairway bunker to set up her winning two-putt.

“I kind of resigned to the fact that whatever was going to happen was going to happen,” Lewis said. “I just needed to commit to my golf shots and hit them. I pulled off a great up-and-down on 17 and probably hit one of shots of my life on 18.”

Chun also parred the final two holes in a 66.

Lewis finished at 20-under 268 after opening with rounds of 70, 64 and 65 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round. She also broke through in Portland after finishing second twice – two strokes behind Suzann Pettersen in 2013 and four shots behind Canadian Brooke Henderson last year.

On Sunday, she birdied four of the first seven holes, and made the turn four strokes ahead of Chun.

Chun cut the lead to two with birdies at the par-5 10th and 12th. Chun missed a short birdie putt at the par-4 14th, and pulled to within a stroke with a birdie at the par-3 16th.

Perhaps the biggest hole of the day for Lewis came at the difficult 17th when she hit her approach over the green and saved par after chipping 7 feet past the hole.

“I hit a really good chip,” Lewis said. “I knew I was going to have at least a 5-footer, and just hit one of the best putts I’ve hit on that back nine.”

Chun missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the hole.

“It was a great round today,” Chun said. “But Stacy’s play was good, too. I really enjoy playing with Stacy. I know Stacy have a little hard time before, so I want to give her a big congratulations.”

The South Korean player was bogey-free the final 53 holes.

Brittany Altomare (69) and Moriya Jutanugarn (72) tied for third at 14 under.

Ai Miyazato shot a 67 to tie for fifth at 13 under in the Japanese star’s final U.S. start. The 2010 Portland winner plans to retire after The Evian Championship in two weeks in France.

“It’s been a tremendous week for me,” Miyazato said. “On the last hole, I got really emotional … I have so many great memories of this tournament. This is my favourite city forever now.”

Henderson, trying to win for the third straight year, had a 70 to tie for 15th at 10 under. The 19-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., had an eagle and three birdies in a four-hole stretch, but finished with a triple bogey on 18.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (73) was 6 under while Maude-Aimee Leblanc (72) of Sherbrooke, Que., was 2 over.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Stacy Lewis took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Cambia Portland Classic in her bid make a big donation to hurricane relief in her hometown and end a long winless streak.

From The Woodlands in the Houston area, Lewis has pledged to give her earnings – first place is worth $195,000 – to the relief efforts. The 11-time LPGA Tour champion also is trying to win for the first time since June 2014.

“You try not to think about the finish line and what could happen tomorrow, but it would definitely be up there with a major,” said Lewis, a two-time major champion. “It would be probably one of my most special wins, just to be able to do this for the people in Texas and do it, too, when everybody is watching. I kind of put all the eyeballs on me and put some pressure on myself, so it’s nice to kind of see myself performing, too.”

Her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, is the University of Houston women’s golf coach.

Tied for the second-round lead with two-time defending champion Brooke Henderson and In Gee Chun, Lewis had eight birdies – five on the front nine – in a 7-under 65 at tree-lined Columbia Edgewater. She had a 17-under 199 total after opening with rounds of 70 and 64.

Moriya Jutanugarn was second after a 66. Chun was another stroke back after a 69.

Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., had a 74 to drop into a tie for 13th at 8 under. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp fired a 69 and is 7 under while Maude-Aimee Leblanc (75) of Sherbrooke, Que., is 2 over.

Ai Miyazato also was 8 under after a 72 in her final start in the United States. The Japanese star plans to retire after The Evian Championship in two weeks in France.

Lewis is trying to break through in Portland after finishing second twice – two strokes behind Suzann Pettersen in 2013 and four shots behind Henderson last year.

“I know it’s been a while since I won. Everybody talks about it. I really feel like the last few months I’ve been playing some good golf. I’ve just needed a couple good breaks here and there,” Lewis said.

Lewis calls Columbia-Edgewater “one of my favourite courses we actually play all year,” and her recent results back it up.

“You have to hit shots. You have to hit a little fade or a little draw. You can’t just get up there and bomb it,” Lewis said. “My caddie (Travis Wilson) has been here way more times than anybody probably in this field, and so I think we have an advantage as far as knowing the golf course.”

Jutanugarn briefly flirted with the lead after making six birdies on the first 10 holes. She’s trying to win her first LPGA Tour title after watching younger sister Ariya win six times in the last two years.

“I have been hitting solid and put myself in a lot of really good chances for birdie. Make some, miss some, but it’s still pretty solid round,” Jutanugarn said. “Back nine just a little rush, a little rough sometimes. Still, I think it hit it pretty good.”

Henderson, playing alongside Lewis, failed to break par for the first time in 11 career competitive rounds at Columbia-Edgewater, dashing the 19-year-old Canadian’s bid to become the youngest three-time winner of a tournament in LPGA Tour history.

Lewis rebounded from a bogey at the par-3 16th with a 5-foot birdie putt at the difficult par-4 17th. She’s within reach of the tournament 72-hole record of 21-under 267, set by Henderson in 2015.

Chun is playing the event for the first time. The South Korean player tied for third last week in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and has four runner-up finishes this season. Both of her LPGA Tour victories have come in majors – the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2016 Evian Championship.

CALGARY – Scott McCarron has had his way with the par-5, 18th hole at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

McCarron eagled the final hole of the par-70, 7,086-yard course for the second straight day to move atop the Shaw Charity Classic leaderboard on Saturday.

“I’m kind of expected to make some eagles out there and that’s a hole that sets up pretty well for me,” said McCarron, who leads the PGA Tour Champions circuit with 16 eagles so far this season. “Coming up 18, it’s just a lot of fun for us to have that grandstand with all the fans up there. I’ve been lucky enough to make two long putts. Hopefully I can do it again (on Sunday).”

McCarron also had five birdies to go with one bogey for a round of 6-under 64. Through two days of action at the three-day event, McCarron’s at 13-under par and has a two-stroke lead over first-round leader Kevin Sutherland and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

“There’s some really good players and I’m going to have to put the pedal down and make a bunch of birdies,” said McCarron when asked what it will take to win his fourth event this season.

Jimenez shot 65 to move into a tie for second at 11 under with Sutherland, who followed up the 62 he shot in the first round with a 67.

“I played very, very solid giving myself a chance for birdies,” said Jimenez, who needed just 28 putts on Saturday. “From the tee I didn’t play as good as (Friday), but the rest of the game was pretty good. If you are not in the fairways, it’s very difficult to hit the greens, but any time I hit the fairway, I gave myself a chance for birdie.”

Scott Dunlop and Todd Hamilton both had rounds of 66 on Saturday and are tied for fourth place overall at 10 under, just one shot ahead of Nick Faldo, Bob Estes and Jerry Kelly.

Faldo shot 64 to tie McCarron for the Saturday’s low round to move into contention, despite playing in only his fifth tournament of the year.

“I haven’t shot 64 in whatever ? a long time,” said the 60-year-old World Golf Hall of Fame member. “It was nice to feel that I could go for it. That was the goal for coming here and playing. I’ve been working on enough things that it’s just putting it to the test, so that was really great.”

McCarron counted Faldo among the group of golfers that he’ll have to fend off on Sunday.

“Then you’ve got Nick Faldo,” McCarron said. “I mean, what’s he doing? He’s supposed to be announcing somewhere, isn’t he?

“Here you’ve got a guy, one of the best players in the world during his time, hasn’t played hardly at all for years and comes out here and joins us. It’s a big boost for us to have Nick Faldo to come out and to come out and play well, I think that’s really impressive.”

Vancouver’s Stephen Ames is the top Canadian after carding a round of 66 to move him up the leaderboard and into a tie for 18th spot at 5 under with a group of six others, including 2014 Shaw Charity Classic champion Fred Couples.

“I played well, better than (Friday),” said Ames, who noted that he struggled with his ball striking during the first round. “I didn’t make as many putts as (Friday). That kind of goes with the game. It’s going very well.”

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., is just one shot back of Ames at 4 under after a 69. Although Victoria’s Jim Rutledge also carded a 1-under round of 69 on Saturday, he’s well back of the front runners heading into Sunday’s final round in a tie for 69th spot at 1 over.

INDEX: SPORTS

NORTON, Mass. – Jon Rahm accomplished so much so quickly that he began to wonder what else was left for him to achieve in his first full year on the PGA Tour.

He now has 10 million reasons to play his best golf.

Already very much in the hunt for the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus, Rahm took another step Saturday when he made an eagle and five birdies over his last 10 holes for a 5-under 66 and a two-shot lead at the halfway point of the Dell Technologies Championship.

Rahm already has a short history of strong finishes in his first trip to the TPC Boston.

One day after he birdied four of his last five holes, he made a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th and then shot 31 on the front nine to reach 9-under 133.

No one could catch him in the afternoon, least of all Dustin Johnson.

Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player who had a one-shot lead going into the second round, had a pair of double bogeys after a quick start and needed a birdie on the 18th hole to keep from falling further behind. Johnson shot a 72 and was five shots behind.

It’s already been an amazing year for Rahm. The 22-year-old Spaniard was No. 137 at the start of the year. Now he’s at No. 5. His two main goals were to get to East Lake for the Tour Championship and win a tournament.

Check. Check.

But after a runner-up at Colonial, he has missed the cut twice and finished out of the top 25 in three other PGA Tour starts.

“It’s probably because I got to the point where I had accomplished so much more than I had set myself to in the beginning of the year that I felt like there was nothing else to do,” he said. “It made me complacent of what I had accomplished all year. I didn’t play with the same intensity. I really didn’t have a goal.

“It’s taken me two months to realize what I’ve done, and hopefully I can keep surprising myself.”

Paul Casey, who played in the final group last year until Rory McIlroy ran him down, had a 65 and was two shots off the lead along with Canadian Adam Hadwin (65), Kevin Streelman (65) and Kyle Stanley (68).

Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., fired a 65 and had one eagle, five birdies and a bogey. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is at 4 under following a 68 while Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., shot a 69 and is 1 under. Nick Taylor (72), also of Abbotsford, is 2 over.

Streelman is at No. 90 in the FedEx Cup, and only the top 70 after the Labor Day finish advance to the third playoff event in two weeks outside Chicago.

Rahm was only part of a cool, calm day that left a large crowd entertained, and at times surprised.

Lucas Glover (No. 16) and Grayson Murray (No. 8) each made a hole-in-one that the PGA Tour estimated were 65 seconds apart. Phil Mickelson dropped only one shot on his way to a 67. He was just three shots off the lead at 6-under 136, his best 36-hole score since the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June. Jordan Spieth also turned around his fortunes. Despite missing a pair of birdies inside 7 feet, Spieth still shot a 65 and was in the group four shots behind.

Spieth attributed his slow start in the opening round Friday to waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

“For me, it was just a matter of just stop being cranky,” Spieth said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I was getting more mad at bad breaks than you should. It was a bad day at the office yesterday and a really good one today. I’m going to need two really good ones again. But to be within four shots after yesterday’s round is a tremendous accomplishment.”

McIlroy, meanwhile, was headed home after missing the cut as the defending champion for only the second time in his career. McIlroy also missed the cut as defending champion in the 2012 U.S. Open.

McIlroy will still advance to the BMW Championship, though he will need a top finish to get to East Lake for the Tour Championship.

That’s no longer a concern for Rahm. He is No. 5 in the FedEx Cup, already assured of going the distance. He won at Torrey Pines in January. He even won his first European Tour title at the Irish Open.

And he now has a very clear goal over the next few weeks.

“I think we all have the same goal in the next few weeks, which is the FedEx Cup,” he said with a smile.

He still has a long way ahead of him at the TPC Boston. Twenty players were within five shots of the lead with two rounds to go, and players were bracing for a Sunday of wet weather. The tee times were moved back and will be played in threesomes because of the forecast.

The cut was at 3-over 145, which spared the likes of Bubba Watson, who is at No. 72 in the standings. Watson missed a 3-foot par putt on the par-5 18th hole and figured he would miss the cut until Patrick Rodgers hit into the junk on the 18th hole, had to take a penalty drop and made bogey.

Adam Scott wasn’t so fortunate. He came up short of the 18th with a sand wedge and missed a 6-foot par putt, giving him a 75. He wound up missing the cut by one shot after flying in from Australia to try to extend his season.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Two-time defending champion Brooke Henderson of Canada shot a 5-under 67 on Friday for a share of first place after two rounds at the Cambia Portland Classic.

The 19-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., fired six birdies and an eagle to jump up the leaderboard from second to first place, where she was tied with first-round leader In Gee Chun of South Korea and American Stacy Lewis at 10 under.

Chun shot a 68 while Lewis had a 64. The trio have a two-shot lead over Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Moriya Jutanugarn and Ai Miyazato heading into the weekend.

Brooke Henderson’s 2nd consecutive 67 puts her at 10-under and tied for the lead going into the weekend @PortlandClassic.

Highlights>> pic.twitter.com/62e4ise88F

— LPGA (@LPGA) September 2, 2017

“It was a little bit up and down today,” said Henderson. “I made a lot of birdies and an eagle, which was awesome, although I made a couple bogeys that I’d like to take off the card for the next two days.

“But overall I feel like I have a solid game plan and any time I’m double digits over two days I’m really happy. So I hope I can continue that trend over the next two days.”

Henderson won the tournament in 2015 and 2016 and is trying to become the first golfer to win at Portland in three straight years.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton was 4 under after a 71 and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., had a 73 to sit at 1 under after two rounds.

Henderson eagled on the par-4 11th hole. She also had three bogeys.

“It was pretty cool,” Henderson said of her shot on the 11th. “It was a really tough shot and to see it go in just made me really happy and it changed my day. I was able to go 4 under par after that point which was really important and help me get to 10 under.”

NORTON, Mass. – Now that he’s finally won again, Dustin Johnson is starting to look as dangerous as ever.

One week after Johnson ended a five-month dry spell brought on by a back injury, he easily handled the early cold and a steady win at TPC Boston for a 5-under 66 to take a one-shot lead in the opening round of the Dell Technologies Championship.

And the world’s No. 1 player made it look easy on a tough day for scoring.

He started with a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 10. He made the turn with a 6-iron from 220 yards that sailed high and rode the left-to-right wind into 4 feet for eagle. When another big tee shot settled into a divot on the reachable par-5 second hole, he laid up short of the water and still made birdie.

“Put together a pretty good score,” Johnson said.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia opened with five birdies on the front nine, and then saved his day with a par on his final hole. He hooked his tee shot into the trees, got a bounce into the rough, laid up and then hit wedge to 12 feet and made the putt for a 67.

Jon Rahm also had a 67 that he felt was the best he could have possibly done. It helped that the 22-year-old Spaniard birdied four of his last five holes in the afternoon as the temperature warmed slightly and the wind never went away.

Marc Leishman and Kyle Stanley also were one shot back among the early starters who had to face the surprising chill of morning, a cruel reminder that the end of a New England summer is not far away.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., both opened with 70s while Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., and Nick Taylor, also of Abbotsford, shot 72s.

Phil Mickelson, in his last tournament before the picks are made for the Presidents Cup, felt more energy after seeing a doctor and kept his focus on enough good shots for a 69.

“It was nice to have a solid round,” Mickelson said, who had not broken par in the opening round since The Greenbrier in early July. “I played well tee-to-green, and it made for a stress-free day on a very difficult day.”

Johnson played in the group featuring the top three in the FedEx Cup. PGA champion Justin Thomas made 16 pars in his round of 71. British Open champion Jordan Spieth, who lost to Johnson in a sudden-death playoff last week on Long Island, didn’t make a birdie until his 13th hole and shot 72.

“Each part of my game was a little off,” Spieth said.

Nothing looked wrong with Johnson, except for one bad swing and one aggressive putt.

His 25-foot birdie attempt on the 14th hole ran about 5 feet by the cup, and he missed that coming back to slow some early momentum. He bounced back with a wedge into 6 feet for birdie, made eagle on the 18th to reach the turn at 4 under and then had a simple iron off the tee at No. 1. But it sailed right into the woods in a hazard, and he punched out and missed an 8-foot par putt.

Otherwise, there was very little stress except for one young fan who kept referring to him as “Shank.”

“When you win, you’re playing well, so it gives you a lot of confidence,” Johnson said. “For me, that was one thing that was probably lacking a little bit the last few months is just the confidence, because I wasn’t seeing the shots that I wanted to see. I wasn’t consistently hitting them. But after last week, I’ve got a lot of confidence now. I feel like the things I’ve been working on, they are back to working.”

That was as close as a dissertation on golf as the No. 1 player will allow. Johnson doesn’t spend deep analysis over the way he plays. He sees the shot, pulls a club and usually hits it where he’s aiming. That’s what led him to three straight victories going into the Masters until he wrenched his back when he slipped on the stairs and had to withdraw from the first major of the year.

The victory last week was his fourth of the year, tied with Thomas for most on the PGA Tour this season.

As easy as it looked for Johnson, it was anything but that for Kelly Kraft. At No. 64 in the FedEx Cup, his season might be over after he took a 12 on the par-5 second hole. Kraft hit his third into the water and his fifth shot over the green. He tried to hit a shot from a native area, took another penalty drop to go back to the fairway and hit that one into the water. He eventually two-putted for a 12 and withdrew after 14 holes with a sore foot.

Ryan Moore, who missed time with a shoulder injury this summer, had four double bogeys in his round of 82. He also withdrew.