JERSEY CITY, N.J. – It's almost déjà vu for Dustin Johnson as he defends his Northern Trust title while ranked 17th in the FedExCup standings. He began the playoffs 15th in the standings a year ago before nearly sweeping the post-season. 

Last year, Johnson dominated The Northern Trust by 11 strokes at TPC Boston – thanks in part to a Day 2 60. Then a 43-foot putt forced a playoff at the BMW Championship before he eventually lost to Jon Rahm. But DJ shook off that loss quickly and won the Tour Championship to claim his first FedExCup title. 

A little over two months later, Johnson continued his monster run by winning his second career major at November's Masters. Few would have predicted that entering the '21 FedExCup playoffs, Johnson would still be looking for his next Tour win. 

"Obviously, last year was a little bit different because a lot of golf tournaments leading right up into the playoffs (as the Tour rearranged its schedule after pausing due to COVID-19)," Johnson said Wednesday at Liberty National. "I feel like the game is starting to round into form. I'm starting to – in the last couple of events definitely played a little bit better ... it's a lot closer to what it was last year."

It appeared the 37-year-old was turning a corner with a T-8 finish at The Open Championship. But the following week, Johnson missed the cut at the 3M Open, where in '20 he withdrew after an opening-round 80 before closing out the year finishing top 6 in seven of his next eight tournaments. 

Once again, much like last year, Johnson shook off his lackluster performance at TPC Twin Cities with a T-10 finish at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, which included a field of 48 of the world's top 50 players. 

"For me, obviously, I know I'm a good player," he said. "I've been a really good player for a long time. So playing a few bad rounds doesn't really bother me too much. Obviously, I know I need to go work on some things, which is what I did. 

"Any time, no matter how bad I'm playing, it only takes one shot here or one shot there where I get a nice feel and it turns everything around." 

After a winless nine months and losing the world No. 1 throne – which Johnson held since last year's Northern Trust – to Jon Rahm, Johnson feels a sense of urgency to emulate what he did last year and become the FedExCup playoff's first back-to-back champion since its inception in '07. 

"I mean, yeah, I always need a good result," he said. "For me, every week I come here playing, I want to put myself in position to win. Obviously, it's the playoffs. It's definitely a sense of urgency to play well and contend for the championship."