THURSDAY ON THE LINKS Professional golf results

NORTHERN TRUST

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y.

Golf hasn’t felt this easy to Dustin Johnson since he was making it hard for anyone to beat him.

Coming off a week in the Bahamas and switching back to his old putter to rely more on feel, Johnson ran off three birdies over his last six holes at Glen Oaks Club and finished with a 5-under 65 to trail Russell Henley by one shot after the opening round of The Northern Trust.

Johnson missed only two fairways and two greens Thursday afternoon, and he finished with a shot up the hill to 4 feet for one last birdie that gave him his lowest round since he won at Riviera in February to rise to No. 1 in the world.

“Today was much easier than it has been in the past,” Johnson said. “I’ve been saying it’s close and I’ve seen signs of it. But today was the first day where I felt like all day I was really in control of the swing. Hit a lot of really good shots. Drove it well. Did everything really well. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve done that.”

He specifically used as a reference the weeks leading into the Masters, when Johnson looked nearly unstoppable by winning three straight tournaments. And then he was stopped by a staircase in his rental home at the Masters, slipping in socks and wrenching his back. He had to withdraw from Augusta National the next day, and since then he has been trying to get over the back injury and get back his game.

The first of four FedEx Cup playoff events moved this year to Glen Oaks, a course no one in the field knows particularly well. It is spacious and immaculate, the contoured greens that can be difficult to negotiate outside of close range.

Henley brought a conservative strategy of aiming for the safe part of the green, and he converted eight birdies. Seven of them were from 12 feet or closer, a testament to how well he was playing. He also chipped in from 80 feet.

CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN’S OPEN

OTTAWA ONTARIO

Marina Alex shot a 5-under 66 on Thursday to take the lead in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, while Canadian star Brooke Henderson was in danger of missing the cut after a 74.

Alex had four birdies on her opening nine — the back nine at Ottawa Hunt — and added two birdies and a bogey on her second nine. The American is winless on the PGA Tour.

“I got off to a great start,” Alex said. “Then the conditions started to pick up a little bit. The wind picked up. It started to get tough definitely the second nine, so I kind of just held in there the best I could.”

She had 28 putts.

“Putted unbelievably well today,” Alex said. “I rolled it so good. I hope I can just carry that into the next couple days and just tidy up the ball-striking a little bit.”

Henderson, from nearby Smiths Falls, struggled on the greens. She had 32 putts.

“I hit the ball for the majority extremely well and just the putter kind of let me down at times,” Henderson said. “But you know, the crowds were amazing. There was a lot of great things happening out there, and like I said, my ball-striking was awesome. It was like right on, and just hopefully tomorrow I can make a couple more of those 10-footers, 15-footers, and then we’ll see what happens.”

The 19-year-old Canadian has four LPGA Tour victories, winning the major KPMG Women’s PGA last year and the Meijer LPGA Classic in June.

South Korea’s In Gee Chun and England’s Holly Clyburn were a stroke back at 67.

“You can hit shots in there pretty tight,” Chun said.

Associated Press