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NORTON — If Dustin Johnson didn’t stride across a golf course with such effortless swagger, one might wonder if he was created in a lab. The world’s No. 1 golf emits an aura of nonchalance fitting for a brisk, serene late summer morning in New England, his swing relaxed but precise, his discernible assuredness indicative of a man on a tear.

Johnson defeated Jordan Spieth in a playoff at the Northern Trust Open last Sunday, the first of four FedExCup playoff events.

On Friday, he made his mark on leg two of the playoff trail at TPC Boston’s Dell Technologies Championship, carding a first-round 66 while dismantling any worry of a hangover following last weekend’s exhilarating finish in a playoff.

Playing partners Spieth and Justin Thomas filled out the marquee group, but they were merely bystanders to the DJ show, frustrated by their own play as Johnson garnered oohs and ahs from a sizeable gallery.

Johnson leads Spieth by 595 points and Thomas by 1,422 points in the FedEx Cup standings. Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm round out the top five.

“When you win, you’re playing well so it gives you a lot of confidence,’’ said the 33-year-old South Carolina native. “For me, that was one thing that was probably lacking a little bit the last few months is the confidence, just because I wasn’t seeing the shots that I wanted to see.

“I finally feel like I’m swinging the club how I was when I was playing really well at the beginning of the year.

“I’ve got a lot of control over it. I feel like I can control my golf ball very well, which is what you’ve got to do in these conditions.’’

Teeing off at 9:15 a.m. in gusty conditions didn’t hinder Johnson in his quest to set the tone early.

His first of many majestic drives – this one on his opening hole at the 10th tee – set up a nice angle coming into the green.

Though his approach settled 36 feet from the cup, Johnson was quick to flaunt an improved pace on the greens, something that has dogged him for stretches of his thrilling career.

Johnson’s ball hit bottom for birdie, his tournament off to fast start.

“I got off to a good start right out of the gate on the first hole,’’ he said. “Then (I) just kind of kept it rolling from there.’’

Johnson’s straightforward rhetoric understates what can at times be an awe-inducing game.

When Johnson is in peak form, the putter is merely an afterthought, only utilized for a tap-in here and a lag putt there.

While Spieth expressed perplexity as to why his drives were occasionally straying right – “I don’t get it at all,’’ he exclaimed to caddie Michael Greller after a particularly frustrating slice on the sixth tee – Johnson faced no such issues with his money club: the driver.

The 6-foot-4-inch behemoth made short work of Norton’s 530-yard par 5 18th, taking it apart in two towering shots before cleaning up the remaining 4 feet for eagle and an opening-nine 31.

The six-iron Johnson hit from 220 yards might have been his best swing in a day chock-full of them.

“I had 205 front, I think 220 hole,’’ he recalled. “Wind is down off the left. It was a perfect 6-iron for me. I just hit a really nice shot.’’

Though Thomas shot even par on the day and Spieth clocked in at 1 over, both presented onlookers with sporadic bouts of entertainment.

On the vaunted par-4 12th, Thomas purposefully hit his drive into the 13th fairway, eventually settling for one of his 16 pars.

“I knew that they were going to be confused, or not know what was going on,’’ Thomas said of the galleries reactive murmuring.

“But I just felt like that was the best way to play the hole today.’’

Even Spieth had his moments, namely at the gargantuan 600-yard par-5 seventh, in which a series of four tidy shots helped punctuate a 2-under closing nine.

Still, it was Johnson’s stoic self-assuredness that stole the day.

His only two blemishes – bogeys on 1 and 14 — were calmly mitigated by birdies on the ensuing holes. That ability to bounce back is one of Spieth’s defining characteristics.

Spieth’s win at The British Open this summer quelled any fears of regression (the three-time major winner didn’t win one last year) surrounding the 24-year-old.

Still, if the past week is any indication, it’s Johnson’s world now.

Owen Pence can be reached at owen.pence@globe.com.