Article by Staff and Wire Reports of Global Golf Post

Dustin Johnson stamped an exclamation point on his victory by holing out his second shot for eagle on the 72nd hole, wrestling back the No. 1 ranking from Justin Thomas in style.

There now are 30 players to have 18 or more PGA Tour victories including a major since World War II ended. All of them are in the Hall of Fame with the exception of Johnson and Tiger Woods.

Johnson simply overpowered the field in Memphis, leading all players in strokes gained tee-to-green, driving distance and birdies. He started Sunday tied with Putnam at 15 under, but the two quickly separated after an opening double bogey sent Putnam scrambling to get back into the mix.

Johnson kept things steady until a back-nine surge – birdies at Nos. 13 and 16 and the walk-off eagle on No. 18 – gave the appearance of a total runaway victory.

‘What a cool way to end the day,” Johnson said. “A lot of good things happened this week. I knew coming into this week that I was swinging well. It was nice being back in the lead and getting the juices flowing again.”

Since June 2016, Johnson has nine Tour victories. He had been fairly quiet so far this year with just one other win back in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but this could offer a significant boost to his summer. He hasn’t finished outside the top-20 in his past five starts, which is bad news for the field this week at the U.S. Open.

“I haven’t seen (Shinnecock Hills), but I am excited to get out there and play 18 holes tomorrow,” Johnson said.

While the tournament didn’t end with much drama at the top, several players had imperative high finishes.

Putnam’s solo second finish gives him his third top-10 of the season and moves him to 49th on the FedEx Cup points list, a big step toward securing full-time playing privileges next season. J.B. Holmes shot 9-under 271 to notch solo third, his highest finish since the 2016 Open Championship.

Two other top-five finishers relished the opportunity to play well in Memphis: Richy Werenski qualified for the U.S. Open on Monday and then picked up his first top-10 of the season, while Stweart Cink earned his first top-five since the 2015 RBC Canadian Open.

Driver: TaylorMade M4 (9.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0 Tour Spec X

3 Wood: TaylorMade M4 3HL (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Black 95 6.5

Irons: TaylorMade DJ Proto (3-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: TaylorMade MG (52-09SB, 60 degrees), TaylorMade Hi-Toe (64 degrees)
Shaft: KBS Tour Black 120S

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Black
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0

Golf Ball: TaylorMade TP5x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet (standard size built up with 3 wraps of tape in the right hand, 2 wraps in the left and 2-way tape on all)

Republished with permission from Global Golf Post.