Dustin Johnson swings a golf club as if somebody stuck a Greek god on a perfect pendulum. Ted Potter Jr. swings a golf club like he's trying to kill a pesky hornet he might be able to see. Johnson has six top-five finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Potter has six top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour -- ever. The two were tied at 14 under after 54 holes at this event.
But it was Potter who stared down the No. 1 player in the world on Sunday and left him empty-handed.
Potter hit 12 of 14 fairways, rarely missed greens by more than a few yards, made every putt he needed to and parred his way in from the eighth hole to the end of the day.
This was his 84th career start on the PGA Tour (he has had 110 on the Web.com Tour). He missed every cut in all 24 tournaments he entered on the Web.com Tour in 2004. His only PGA Tour victory came at the 2012 Greenbrier Classic, and he has only nine top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour since that season.
D.J. shot a 1-over 73 and hit his irons as poorly as he has in many, many years. Still, he has three top-five finishes in his three starts on the PGA Tour during the 2017-18 season (only Justin Rose and Potter have beaten him), and he'll be in the spotlight as the defending champion next week at the Genesis Open.
He closed out the weekend with a 62 on Saturday and that 69 on Sunday. He now finds himself in the 2018 Masters and with a PGA Tour card for another two years.
It was a disappointing week for Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut, especially after he sniffed the lead following a 4-under 68 in Round 1. As he noted in his post-round interview on Saturday, you can't hit 16 greens in regulation in Round 2 and shoot 3 over.
Jordan Spieth didn't defend, but he did have a pretty solid week. He putted far better than he has in recent weeks, which is a trend that has been showing itself during the past few years with Spieth and this event. Spieth stumbled home a bit on Sunday and made bogeys on three of his final nine holes before ending with a birdie. After a front-nine 33 on Sunday, his poor play down the stretch was the only thing between him and a top-10 finish.
