Updated September 8, 2020, 6:11 AM CT

Tour Championship

Dustin Johnson wins first his FedEx Cup

When: September 4-7, 2020

Where: East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta

Dustin Johnson capped off the PGA Tour season with a dominant victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

The 'Unflappable One' led by five entering the final round after a shooting 64 in Sunday’s third round, but ultimately held off hard-charging Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas to win the FedEx Cup and $15 million.

Johnson closed with a 2-under-par 68 to finish at 21 under and three shots clear of Thomas and Schauffele. He had three birdies in his first six holes and after consecutive bogeys at the seventh and eighth, came up with huge pars saves, one from seven feet on the 9th and another from 21 feet on the 13th.

In his last four starts, Johnson has a tie for second in the PGA Championship, victory in the Northern Trust by 11 shots at 30 under, a playoff loss in last week’s BMW Championship and a win at East Lake. He’s 56 under the last four events and held at least a share of the 54-hole lead in each tournament.

“It was a tough day, tough golf course, and I’m definitely excited it’s over and that I can celebrate a little bit now. It was a grind out there. But I’m very proud to be the FedExCup champion. It’s a very tough trophy to win and I’ve been close so many times,” Johnson said after his third victory this season. “I was nervous. I always get nervous because it means something. I get nervous on the first hole, kind of settled down a little bit, and then obviously the back nine definitely could feel it, just because there were a lot of really good players around me and they were playing well. So I knew I was going to have to shoot a good score on the back nine if I wanted to win.

“I wanted to hold that trophy at the end of the day. It was something that I wanted to accomplish during my career, and obviously I got one of them. Now I’m going to try to get me another.”

Thomas and Schauffele both closed with 66 to tie for second and each won $4.5 million.

World No. 2 Jon Rahm, who beat Johnson in a playoff in the BMW Championship last week, shot 66 to finish solo fourth, four shots back and won $3 million.

“I actually didn’t look at (the leaderboards) today,” said Thomas, who made five birdies in his first seven holes but also bogeyed the second and eighth holes. “I was so far back I felt like I needed to kind of get in my own little world and make as many birdies as I can. I didn’t worry about DJ. First time I saw was on 12 and saw that he was 1 under. I was right there. I had a great chance today.”

Johnson’s resume now includes a FedEx Cup title, the 2016 U.S. Open, 23 PGA Tour titles and a record six wins in the playoffs and a record 21 top-10s in the playoffs. He’s also won at least one tournament in 13 consecutive seasons.

About the Championship

The Tour Championship is the final event of the PGA Tour season and 2020’s edition, which was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic, will start Sept. 4.

The event was established in 1987 with the tour’s top 30 money winners qualifying for the tournament. In 2007, the event became the final tournament in the FedEx Cup Playoffs with eligibility determined by FedEx Cup points standings.

The Tour Championship also has a different scoring system than other tournaments. According to PGATour.com, the system was created in 2018 to ensure that the points leader will be the golfer holding the FedEx Cup trophy at the end of the event.

Golfers will start the opening round with scores between 10-under to even par. The points leader gets to begin the event 10-under par with the second-place golfer starting at 9-under.

For the first time in FedExCup Playoffs history, the top three players in the FedExCup Standings are also the top three players in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Dustin Johnson is the points leader going into the event. Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, and Collin Morikawa round out the top five on the FedEx Cup leaderboard.

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson are the only golfers to have won the event multiple times.

Whoever wins the Tour Championship gets $15 million - that's more than Greg Norman's career earnings on the PGA Tour.

Here’s how the 30-man field will open the season’s final event, with the winner taking home the FedExCup:

10 under: Dustin Johnson

8 under: Jon Rahm

7 under: Justin Thomas

6 under: Webb Simpson

5 under: Collin Morikawa

4 under: Daniel Berger, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama

3 under: Brendon Todd, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele, Sebastian Munoz

2 under: Lanto Griffin, Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton, Tony Finau

1 under: Kevin Kisner, Abraham Ancer, Ryan Palmer, Kevin Na, Marc Leishman

Even par: Cameron Smith, Viktor Hovland, Mac Hughes, Cameron Champ, Billy Horschel

All 30 players automatically qualify for all four major championships in 2021 and this year, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, will also be extended invitations to the 2021 Tournament of Champions whether they won a tournament or not.

Recent Winners at East Lake

2020: Dustin Johnson (-21)

2019: Rory McIlroy (-18)

2018: Tiger Woods (-11)

2017: Xander Schauffele (-12)

No player has ever defended the Tour Cup.