Johnson leads Chappell by one stroke at Tour Championship

Thoughts of a Dustin Johnson runaway at the Tour Championship were dispelled when he faltered late to fall back into a tie for the third-round lead with fellow American Kevin Chappell in Atlanta on Saturday.

The US Open champion got the shot back with a 12-foot putt for his fifth birdie of the round at the 16th, although a poor drive led to another bogey at the next before he found rough again from the tee at the long final hole and had to settle for a closing par-five.

Chappell, a runnerup three times this season who has never won on the PGA Tour, has made one bogey in 54 holes this week. They were at 8-under 202.

Rory McIlroy made a Saturday run, carding four birdies for a 66.

Small wonder that this was his seventh straight round at 68 or better during the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The victor of the Tour Championship has won the FedEx Cup every year since 2009, when Phil Mickelson won the tournament and Tiger Woods the FedEx Cup. GolfWeek called the device a “faithful road companion” for Johnson, who is tied for the Tour Championship lead heading into Sunday’s final round at East Lake Golf Club.

In spite of becoming a better finisher this year, Johnson said he still feels nerves both at the start of a round and when he’s in contention down the stretch.

Asked about trying to earn USA captain Davis Love’s final wild card, the world number seven said: “The golf tournament is the only pressure because he’s been saying, and also when he talked to me a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t about play, it was about who fits the team and pairs up nicely”.

Chappell, one of two players at the Tour Championship who has yet to win on the PGA Tour, was just as solid, even if it doesn’t look as spectacular. One mystery is whether anything Moore does Sunday – including a victory – is enough for Davis Love III to use his last captain’s pick on Moore for the 12-player U.S. Ryder Cup team.

“I came here this week to win a golf tournament and I’m 100 percent focused on that”, Moore said.

American Kevin Kisner and Hideki Matsuyama were four shots off the lead on three under par, with McIlroy, Paul Casey and Ryan Moore another stroke back.

Chappell already has three runner-up finishes this season and now has to face the best player in golf at the moment.

The putter cooled off, however, and Chappell stayed in range.

Levy completed a 9-under 62 in the morning in the delayed first round and was 17 under with one hole left in the second round was play was stopped because of darkness. It was his eighth consecutive round under par and his 10th in his last 11 rounds.

“I like my position”, Johnson said. It’s all about personality and game types, who fits up good, so whatever that means I haven’t got the call yet.

Chappell made a David versus Goliath comparison Friday, and it felt like that at times with how far Johnson hits it and the support he had from a Southern crowd.

First, his own score had him feeling good as he methodically took apart demanding East Lake with a bogey-free, 4-under-par 66 to move closer to winning his first Tour Championship.

While the dream scenario, the one with no controversy or lamentation over the end result, is a singular player sweeping the end-of-season trophies to put a neat little bow around the campaign, the so-called nightmare scenario is still very much at play.