Johnson healthy, rusty, but playing again

WILMINGTON, North Carolina — Dustin Johnson hasn’t lost his touch with his wedges.

From 107 yards away on the fourth hole Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Championship, his shot took a big hop on the firm green and flew straight into the cup for an eagle. The crowd erupted in cheers, while Johnson simply smiled and used his shoe to tamp down the corners of his divot.

It takes a lot to get Johnson excited, much less during a pro-am.

“I’ll take it, though,” he said. “I need all the good shots I can get. I haven’t hit too many lately.”

Johnson didn’t hit any the Masters. That’s still a sore subject, even though his back no longer is.

The Wells Fargo Championship is his first tournament since a freak accident knocked him out of the Masters a month ago. Having just returned from the gym, Johnson was still in his socks when he went downstairs in his rented home to move his car.

He slipped near the bottom and crashed so hard on his lower back that it left a deep bruise, and the pain didn’t entirely subside until last week. Johnson tried to warm up the next day for the opening round at Augusta National and decided minutes before his tee time that he couldn’t go.

Now it’s time for golf’s No. 1 player to get back to work.

“Feeling good,” Johnson said. “Healthy, so can’t complain. Obviously, I haven’t played much or done a whole lot of practising, but the body is all good.”

Still to be determined is whether the fall cost him more than playing in the Masters.

There’s also that matter of momentum. Johnson was starting to look unbeatable heading into the Masters. He had won three straight tournaments, two of them World Golf Championships, and was the most overwhelming favourite at the Masters since Tiger Woods was No. 1.

But he hasn’t hit a meaningful shot since he won the Match Play on March 26.

“No one’s beaten me since February,” he said with a grin.

That was Feb. 12 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, when he finished third behind Jordan Spieth. Johnson overwhelmed the field at Riviera a week later to reach No. 1 in the world for the first time, and only a staircase has stopped him since then.

He expects a little rust at Eagle Point Golf Club, a Tom Fazio design in this coastal Carolina town that is hosting the tournament this year because Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte is preparing for the PGA Championship this summer.

Johnson said he didn’t play 18 holes until 10 days ago at home in Florida. He took his family to Disney World last Thursday — he went with his two-year-old son, Tatum, on all the rides — practised and played nine holes on Friday, and then got so sick that he didn’t get out of bed until Monday.

The tee shots are still powerful with a slight fade, the most intimidating club in his bag. He was far from flawless, though. Johnson hit five shots on the par-5 12th, none of them particularly good. Two tee shots went left, one of them well to the right. From 250 yards, he twice came out of a 2-iron and knew both were in the water well before he saw the splash.

Johnson said he expects to play well, even though he’s not entirely sure what to expect.

“I was on a good roll, playing the best golf of my career leading into Augusta,” he said. “I’ve had a lot more time off than I would have liked to have had. Still, I feel like I’m swinging really well.”