Broken Arrow, Okla. – Dustin Johnson is looking to finally get his game back together, hitting a 7-under 63 on Saturday to take a two-shot lead into the final round of Leaf Golf Tulsa.
Johnson, a two-time major winner and former World No. 1 player, won the points title in LIV Golf’s first season. But he has yet to finish more than 5 shots to the winner in the five events of the Saudi-funded league this year.
His 63rd at Cedar Ridge came up with a bogey on the last hole. Johnson was 14-under-126, two points ahead of South Africa’s Branden Grace. Grace, which opened with #61, had 67.
Bubba Watson shot a 64 and had 4 bullets behind him. No one else was closer than 5 shots in the third and final round.
Tallor Gooch, who grew up in Oklahoma and played for Oklahoma State, has won the past two events at LIV Golf. Saturday fired 71 rounds and 13 shots left behind.
Charles Howell III had the low round of the six players with ties to Oklahoma. Howell, who played at Oklahoma State, was 8 shots behind at 134 with fellow Cowboys alumni Matthew Wolfe (68) and former Oklahoma Sooner Abraham Unser (66).
Masters runner-up Phil Mickelson had four bogeys in his 69th innings and was near the bottom of the leaderboard in the 48-player field.
Johnson may peak just in time for next week’s PGA Championship in Oak Hill. Brooks Koepka won the LIV event in Orlando, Florida, a week before the Masters, then finished second to Mickelson at the Augusta National.
Seventeen players at Cedar Ridge are playing the PGA Championship next week.
Former PGA champion Martin Kaymer also qualifies but has withdrawn as he is on his way back from a wrist injury. LIV goes to the Trump National outside of Washington the week after the PGA Championship, which means competing for three straight weeks.