Dustin Johnson wins Genesis and is new World Number 1

Dustin Johnson cruised to a five shot victory in the Genesis Open at Riviera CC in California and climbed to Number 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Dustin Johnson arrived at Riviera CC on Sunday with a one shot lead but still had a long way to go to be crowned Genesis Open champion. The tournament had lost 10 hours on Saturday due to fog and rain and the players still had to complete their third rounds.

Johnson posted a superb third round of 64 to stretch his lead to five shots and he moved even further clear at the start of his fourth and final round. At one point, his advantage over the field was nine.

Although he dropped a shot on the 9th and a couple more on the run for home, he had done more than enough to secure the tournament victory. He finished five clear of Scott Brown and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters.

“I played really great all day,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t have driven it any better. That was a big key.”

3 Talking points from the Genesis Open

1 – Dustin Johnson is the new World Number 1, taking over from Jason Day who had held the top spot for 47 weeks. DJ is the 20th player to top the World Ranking since they began back in 1986. Since his U.S. Open triumph last June he has won three further times and has finished in the top three in eight of his last 16 tournaments.

2 – Thomas Pieters produced a last round of 63 to climb into a share of second place. Picking up a cheque for over $600,000, the Belgian has gone a long way to securing his PGA Tour card. He has also made sure of his place in the next two World Golf Championship events. “I love playing in Europe. But If that gets close and I can maybe lock up my (PGA TOUR) card in the next three, four starts, then that will be good,” Pieters said. “It's not going to change my schedule for this year probably. It will just make my schedule a little bit easier next year… I'd like to combine both of them. Ideally I want to play here until May and then go back to Europe and play the events I want to play.”

Thomas Pieters driving tips:

3 – Justin Rose continued his good run of form. The Englishman secured his third top-four finish in four starts on the PGA Tour’s west coast swing. But, despite his good results, he’s not totally happy with his game and feels there is more to come. “I'm not comfortable with any iron shots coming into the green right now but driving the ball well, and feel like I'm making some good inroads on my putting,” he said. “Normally iron play's my bread and butter, so if I can get that going I’ll be happy.”

Genesis Open Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California Feb 16-19 Purse $7,000,000 par 71

1    Dustin Johnson (USA)    66    66    64    71    267    $1,260,000 T2    Scott Brown (USA)    68    68    69    67    272    $616,000 T2    Thomas Pieters (Bel)    70    68    71    63    272    $616,000 T4    Wesley Bryan (USA)    69    69    63    72    273    $275,625 T4    Charley Hoffman (USA)    68    68    70    67    273    $275,625 T4    Kevin Na (USA)        67    69    67    70    273    $275,625 T4    Justin Rose (Eng)        69    71    65    68    273    $275,625 T8    Martin Laird (Sco)    70    68    70    66    274    $203,000 T8    Ollie Schniederjans (USA) 68    69    69    68    274    $203,000 T8    Cameron Tringale (USA) 69    64    71    70    274    $203,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage