AKRON, Ohio — Dustin Johnson followed up his US Open victory in style, taking advantage of a late stumble by Jason Day to secure a one-stroke victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational here Sunday.
Suddenly the hottest player in the game, long-hitting Johnson stormed home with a 66 on the demanding Firestone course to finish at six-under-par 274, while fellow American Scott Piercy (70) birdied the last to claim second place on five-under.
Piercy also finished runner-up to Johnson two weeks ago at the US Open.
World No. 1 Day struggled with his swing for much of the week, and it finally caught up with him at the par-five 16th, where he ran up a double-bogey after pulling his three-wood tee shot and then compounding his problems by hitting his third shot into the pond guarding the green.
Australian Day (72) finished three shots behind Johnson, equal third with Americans Jordan Spieth (67), Matt Kuchar (66) and Kevin Chappell (67).
"I played good this weekend," the 32-year-old Johnson told CBS television after clinching his 11th PGA Tour win.
It was also his third win in a World Golf Championships events. Only Tiger Woods (18) has more WGC victories.
Johnson, who is projected to overtake Spieth in second spot when the world rankings are updated on Monday, will be brimming with confidence when he heads to the British Open at Royal Troon in Scotland in less than two weeks, after a few days in Ireland en route.
"I feel great. I feel my game is where it's been all year," he continued.
"I've played solid all year. I just haven't been putting as well as I've liked to. The last couple of weeks I've just putted well and my game shows it."
Day, who began the day sharing the lead with Piercy, could not add to his total of eight wins in the past year.
He continued to struggle off the tee at the tight Firestone layout, hitting only eight of 28 fairways in his final 36 holes.
"Sixteen is always a tough par-five anyways if you don't get a good drive there," Day said. "It's really tough to get any sort of wedge in your hand and I kind of made a mess of it.
"I played pretty good golf up until 16. I really had two bad holes. I mean, I had a couple bogeys, but really kind of one hole that derailed me, which was 16."
Henderson defends Portland title
Canadian Brooke Henderson went wire-to-wire to successfully defend her title at the Portland Classic Sunday.
Henderson, who claimed her first major at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship east of Seattle last month, carded a final round of 71 for a 14-under-par 274 total and a four-shot victory over Stacy Lewis (69) at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
Norway's Suzann Pettersen (72) finished third at nine-under.
World No. 2 Henderson began the final round with a two-shot lead over Mariajo Uribe, who pulled even with a birdie at the 11th.
However, the Colombian faded badly in her final seven holes with two bogeys and back-to-back double bogeys on 17 and 18.
Henderson, who had three birdies and two bogeys, said it had been a strange round.
Henderson's third career LPGA win puts her in the right frame of mind heading into the Women's US Open at CordeValle near San Jose, California next week.
Chalmers breaks winless spell
Greg Chalmers snapped the longest winless drought of any active player on the USPGA Tour by making an eagle on his closing hole Sunday to capture the Barracuda Championship.
The 42-year-old Aussie had gone 385 previous starts without a win, and as a bonus he earns a spot in the Open Championship later this month in Scotland.
An emotional Chalmers was relieved to get his first PGA Tour win in Reno, Nevada.
"In golf you always have to think that something good is around the corner," said the teary-eyed Chalmers.
His eagle on the 72nd hole sealed a six-point victory at the Montreux course and left the Sydney native with a good feeling.
"I thought my game was getting close and today I got rewarded," he said.
"Today was a battle, but the first three days it went really well for me."
It also got the cash registers ringing. Chalmers, who only needed a par or better on the final hole to win, collected one of the biggest paydays of his career at $576,000, which is about 20 times what he had made so far in 2016.
"I been out on the Web Tour and I only made about $25,000 so far," said Chalmers, who has two career wins on the Web Tour and five on the Tour of Australasia.
Chalmers carded a score of four in the final round of the event which uses the Modified Stableford scoring system. His 43 total was a half dozen points ahead of runner-up Gary Woodland who wound up with a 37.
Heading to hole No. 18, Chalmers was sitting at 38 with Woodland done at 37. A bogey would have forced a playoff, but Chalmers knocked in a short eagle putt for five points.
Colt Knost came in third place at 35. Tim Herron had the best round of the day Sunday, 13, and jumped from 19th place to fourth.
Brendan Steele (12) and Steve Wheatcroft (five) tied for fifth at 32.
First-round leader Martin Laird of Scotland (three) and Ben Martin (minus-two) shared seventh place at 31.
