Golf: Danny Lee stays in top five at Northern Trust, in the hunt to qualify for Tour Championship

Danny Lee walks onto the 18th green during the third round of the Northern Trust. Photo / Getty

Danny Lee is in with a shot at participating in the richest tournament in golf.

The 30-year-old Kiwi has continued his good form at the first tournament of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, sitting in a share of fifth with one round remaining at the Northern Trust event.

Lee carded a third-round two-under 69 to move to 14-under par, dropping back one spot, and most likely losing any hope of claiming the title after Dustin Johnson roared to 22-under and a five-shot lead.

However, Lee, who came into the tournament in 53rd on the FedEx Cup rankings, is now in a position where he could potentially qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship, and its multi-million dollar riches.

The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the Northern Trust qualify for the penultimate playoff tournament – next week's BMW Championship – and the top 30 after that event make the Tour Championship.

Lee is now in 30th on the live standings, meaning if he has a strong final round tomorrow and then plays well at the BMW Championship, he could qualify for the season-ending event for the first time since 2015, where he finished in a share of second behind Jordan Spieth.

His chances of winning the Northern Trust seem over, however, after Johnson produced a birdie-eagle finish to card a seven-under 64 and hold a five-shot lead over Harris English and Scottie Scheffler.

The finish would have come in handy the day before. Johnson was an astounding 11-under par through 11 holes in his second round and had the golf world curious if he would go as low as 57 to set the PGA Tour record. Instead, he finished with seven straight pars for a 60, his best round, but not what it could have been.

"I'm in a great position and like where I'm at, but I'm still going to have to go out and shoot a good score," Johnson said. "You can go low out here and guys are going low every day, especially with the conditions we have — perfect greens, golf course is in great shape and not a lot of wind."

Johnson knows better than to think it's over. Just an hour before he signed for his 64, he was tied for the lead until English made bogeys on the 16th and 17th and missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 66.

He could also think back to the HSBC Champions in Shanghai three years ago, when he had a six-shot lead in the final round and lost to Justin Rose, matching a PGA Tour record.

Scheffler, coming off the 12th round of 59 or better on the PGA Tour, had a 67.
Johnson is going for his second victory of the year and could go to No 1 in the world — provided Jon Rahm doesn't finish second — for the first time since May 2019.

Johnson will be going for his fifth FedEx Cup playoff victory, and third in this event on a third course. What matters more is how he finishes the season. The FedEx Cup already features some of the best players in golf — Woods, McIlroy, Vijay Singh, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth among them — and Johnson wants to be on that list.

- With AP