World number one Dustin Johnson believes reclaiming top spot from European Ryder Cup rival Justin Rose is a psychological advantage.
The big-hitting 34-year-old American, playing in his fourth Ryder Cup, regained his world number one spot from European opponent Rose at Sunday’s Tour Championship.
The Englishman held the top slot for just one week, even if he did leave East Lake with the 10million US dollar Fed Ex Cup prize.
It's a glorious day for final practice at Le Golf National pic.twitter.com/VLmEqIZRw6 — Andy Hampson (@andyhampson) September 27, 2018
Johnson was asked whether he felt that dealt a psychological blow to the Europe’s team.
“Sure. I guess it depends on how you look at it. For me? Yeah, I like being (number) one,” he said.
Le Golf National is not a course suited to Johnson’s long game as it has been set up with narrow fairways and thick rough.
It means he has had to tailor his game to suit.
The guys putting in work👊🏼#GoUSA pic.twitter.com/9mONCLIcDz — Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 27, 2018
“This golf course it’s what it calls for. It doesn’t really give you an option to do it,” he added.
“There’s some long holes but around here it’s all about getting it in the fairway. You don’t have to hit driver a lot of holes.
“Most of them really don’t let you hit a driver because the fairways are really narrow where driver would go.
“But you know if you hit quality iron shots off the tee or three-woods you still can get some short irons in your hands – but you have to play from the fairway.”
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