2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Roundup

Golfstead is reader-supported. When you buy through links on the site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Our affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network and Amazon Associates.

The final leaderboard for the 2016 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club (South Course) in Akron, Ohio is in. Coming off his win at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, Dustin Johnson vaulted into the lead on the back nine and ended up winning by one stroke over runner-up Scott Piercy. This moves Johnson to #1 in the FedExCup standings. Below is the truncated top-10 leaderboard:

(1) Dustin Johnson (-6)
(2) Scott Piercy (-5)
(T3) Jordan Spieth (-3)
(T3) Matt Kuchar (-3)
(T3) Kevin Chappell (-3)
(T3) Jason Day (-3)
(T7) William McGirt (-2)
(T7) Charl Schwartzel (-2)
(T7) David Lingmerth (-2)
(T10) Zach Johnson (E)
(T10) Rickie Fowler (E)
(T10) Adam Scott (E)
(T10) Branden Grace (E)

Here are some statistics on the champion and other notables near the top of the leaderboard:

Winner: Dustin Johnson (-6) – This is Johnson’s first start since the U.S. Open at Oakmont, which he won in style. The win this week marks his third WGC event and eleventh Tour event. Pretty amazingly, this is Johnson’s fourth straight top-5 finish on Tour (and seventh this season). He’s clearly in amazing form right now; it’ll be interesting to see how long that lasts. Johnson credits his recent performances to improved putting.

Previous finishes at the WGC-Bridgestone for Johnson include a T53 last year in 2015, T33 in 2013, T19 in 2012, T48 in 2011 and 15 in 2010 — not particularly good course form at Firestone, but that clearly didn’t matter considering how well he’s playing.

Final round: 6 birdies and 2 bogeys for a second straight 4-under 66. After back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 as well as a birdie on 17, Johnson was narrowly leading out Jason Day but ended up with a comfortable lead after Day made double bogey on 16. His closing bogey on 18 (hit a tree on second shot) was good for a one shot win over Scott Piercy who birdied the last. Scores in regulation: 69, 73, 66, 66 (274).

Scott Piercy (-5) – We’ve seen Piercy’s name near the top of some other leaderboard very recently… that’s right, at the U.S. Open two weeks ago (a T2)! Apparently he’s in some really hot form right now, perhaps the best of his life. Consider the fact that he has 3 PGA Tour wins — at the 2011 Reno-Tahoe Open, 2012 RBC Canadian Open and 2015 Barbasol Championship — and the fact that his best finish in a major aside from this year’s U.S. Open was a T5 at the 2013 PGA Championship. It’s a decent record, but a shame for him to come so close and repeatedly fail to close out. I’m sure Piercy is very hungry to put his name on a higher-profile tournament. He just might be able to pull it off some time this season; we’ll see.

Prior to the U.S. Open he only marked one top-10 finish in the 15-16 season at the CIMB Classic (T7). His performances in May and early June were quite poor: a missed cut and two finishes outside the top 60. Previously Piercy finished T59 in 2013 and T19 in 2012 at the WGC-Bridgestone.

Final round: 4 birdies and 4 bogeys for an even-par 70. Some loose swings on the back nine effectively ruined his chances at taking the tournament. Scores in regulation: 69, 69, 67, 70 (275).

Have any congratulations for Dustin, or any other thoughts about the 2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational? Be sure to leave a comment below!


Image attributed to: Keith Allison
Share this:

Leave a Reply