Golf ’s civil war is the last thing on DJ’s mind
LIV rebel DUSTIN JOHNSON is too busy with his kids’ baseball team to ponder game’s seismic split
‘It’s nice to finally get some quality time at home’
THE Strip is about
glint once more. Dark clouds have parted and drizzle is no longer threatening to dampen Las Vegas’s party ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. Over at the nearby Country Club, however, a fog lingers.
LIV Golf landed here shrouded in uncertainty after it was announced that Strategic Sports Group — a conglomerate of sports team owners — had struck a $3billion investment deal with the PGA Tour. It comes eight months after golf ’s old order agreed a merger with LIV’s Saudi backers, the Public Investment Fund. It leaves the rebels facing potential golfing purgatory.
But if this was supposed to sow doubt and anxiety among the field in Las Vegas, no one told Dustin Johnson.
His reaction to the news? ‘To be honest, I have no idea,’ the twotime major winner says. ‘I mean, obviously I know the gist of it, it’s a group investing some money into the tour, but that’s about as far as it goes. I haven’t read anything on it.’
Only a few hours earlier, Jon Rahm had spoken honestly about his hopes of playing in PGA and DP World Tour events again. DJ couldn’t seem less fussed. ‘No, I don’t see why I would be,’ he says with a chuckle.
Well, some may argue, because he became the face of the Saudibacked breakaway, his $125million defection proving pivotal. Or perhaps, as Mail Sport points out, because this deal casts more uncertainty over golf ’s future.
‘Yeah,’ Johnson says, letting out a sigh. ‘I don’t know enough about what it’s about, so it’s hard to speak on it. LIV, I think we’re in a very good place and our future is bright. Obviously at some point, hopefully, we’ll all get along.
‘Golf right now, I think it’s a little bit split and we need it to come together a little bit more. Then it’s better for everyone.’ Hardly the most stirring stuff. Some of Johnson’s fellow professionals have fought exhaustively to shape golf’s future. Some of his fellow rebels had sleepless nights as they pondered joining LIV, amid accusations of Saudi sport washing and questions over what it would mean for their careers and reputations.
Since his dramatic U-turn in 2022, Johnson has rarely tried to sugarcoat his reasons for quitting the PGA Tour after 15 years and around $75million in earnings.
As he once put it: ‘Playing less, making more money. Pretty simple.’ If you didn’t take such an offer? ‘Something’s wrong with you,’ he said.
So perhaps this shoulder shrug should surprise no one. His motivations might be tough for some to stomach, but they’re not difficult to decipher.
‘I get to actually spend some time at home, which is nice,’ Johnson says. ‘People always ask, “Do you go anywhere in the offseason?” No, being home is kind of like being on vacation, really.
‘All we do is travel all the time. For the last 15 years, it’s all I’ve done. You’re home a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there, it’s nice to get some good quality time at the house.’
Johnson admits he barely picked up his clubs before last week’s season opener in Mexico, where even he was ‘pretty surprised’ by a fifth-place finish. After all, more free time has opened more doors.
‘I coach my kids’ basketball and baseball team,’ Johnson says. ‘So that’s one huge benefit.’
The 39-year-old was an excellent athlete growing up and could have earned college scholarships in other sports beyond golf. Tatum, nine, and River, six, might prove quite handy, too.
‘We lost in the championship in baseball and in basketball we lost in the semis,’ coach Johnson says. ‘So we had a decent team. That’s probably the best part about it — getting to be at home, coach the kids, do normal adult stuff.’
On Sunday, DJ can enjoy a season finale without fretting over the result. LIV’s three-day event ends on Saturday, 24 hours before the Super Bowl across the Strip at Allegiant Stadium. Johnson will be in the crowd.
He has been coming to Vegas for years — he enjoys a seat at the blackjack table and the Japanese food at Bellagio’s Yellowtail. But he has yet to make his pick between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.
‘Who I’m rooting for? I’m not real sure yet,’ DJ says. ‘The Niners have a very good team on both sides of the ball. Kansas City, if you’d talked to me six weeks ago, I wouldn’t have thought they would have made it, but they’ve been playing really well.’
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce followed Johnson during the opening round of the 2021 Masters, now it is the golfer’s turn to marvel. He is relishing the chance to watch Chiefs quarterback Mahomes. He often rubs shoulders with other sporting giants and enjoys studying them.
‘Just being around them, listening to them talk, you pick up things that help.’ One all-time great will be with Johnson on Sunday. His wife is Paulina Gretzky, daughter of ice hockey legend Wayne. They have been together for more than a decade, but still DJ is struck by his father-in-law.
‘It is the way he handles himself and goes about his business,’ he explains.
Johnson mines most of his information about Gretzky through the Canadian’s friends, though. ‘Wayne is very humble and couldn’t be a nicer guy but, talking to them, you get more out of what he really was like,’ DJ says.
‘Everyone who played with Wayne said he was so good at seeing the game — he knew where the puck was going to go before it was there. That was one of his biggest strengths. He saw it in slow motion.’
Johnson rarely looks in much of a hurry, either, but before long is needed elsewhere. He lifts his 6ft 4in frame up and saunters towards the course. ‘I’m pretty happy where I’m at,’ he insists.
Apparently it will take more than mergers and mayhem to knock him off his stride.