PARAMUS, N.J. _ One club kept landing Dustin Johnson in a mess of trouble and the defending champion still managed to almost crack the top 10.
The World's No. 1 golfer climbed into a tie for 11th at The Northern Trust on Sunday despite driving it in the rough 10 times.
Nevertheless, Johnson was upbeat after shooting a 3-under-par 68 at The Ridgewood Country Club to finish at 10-under in this first of four events of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
"I feel like the game is in good form and everything's going real well," said Johnson, 34. "I just need to work on the driver a little bit next week and get it dialed in."
Johnson is dialed in at No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings. He relinquished the top spot to Bryson DeChambeau, who climbed from ninth to first with Sunday's 69 and 18-under victory at The Northern Trust.
The Playoffs are in their 12th year and Johnson is the only two-time titlist at this opener, first winning in 2011 when the event was called The Barclays.
Johnson's work off the tee at Ridgewood CC, located 10 miles west of the George Washington Bridge and New York City, let him down. The South Carolinian only hit four of 14 fairways Sunday. He wasn't much better over four rounds. He hit 42.86 percent of his fairways (24-for-56).
"This was probably the worst I drove it all year," said Johnson, whose season average is 58.7, "and I just need to work on it a little bit."
Johnson is enjoying an outstanding season that features three victories, most recently last month's RBC Canadian Open. He has 10 top-10 finishes.
He remains a favorite to win his first FedEx Cup, after six times finishing in the top eight. He was runner-up in 2016 to Rory McIlroy and fourth last year.
Johnson had four birdies and just one bogey Sunday despite his misguided driver. His irons were good, his putting was solid and he played his back nine at 3-under.
He heads to Massachusetts for the Dell Technologies Championship, which opens Friday at TPC Boston, with only one club in his arsenal in need of fine-tuning.
"I feel good," Johnson said. "I feel like I'm playing well. I'm putting well, I'm hitting a lot of good iron shots, good wedges. Everything's good. I've just got to get it in the fairway a little bit more."
