The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Johnson paired with nemesis Spieth at Open
DRAW: Grand Slam seeker in company of ‘buddy’ who gifted him US Open title
How about that: the stuffy old R&A must have a sense of humour after all, and a devilish one.
What other way to explain the draw for the first two rounds of the 144th Open Championship at St Andrews that paired the Grand Slam-seeking Jordan Spieth with the man who gifted him the second leg of it at Chambers Bay last month?
Dustin Johnson, who three-putted the final green of the US Open to hand the title to his “good buddy” Spieth, gets a sharp reminder of what that felt like as he partners the young Texan for the first two days. One wouldn’t expect Jordan, who finally landed in St Andrews yesterday, to be returning any favours anytime soon.
Johnson talked yesterday about learning the positives from his setback at Chambers Bay, and he must have a great number of those saved up given the list of major championships he’s thrown away from challenging positions.
There’s one Open among that lot, at Sandwich in 2011 when he shanked a shot out of bounds leaving Darren Clarke a saunter to the Claret Jug.
“I think every situation you can learn from,” he said. “It depends on how you look at setbacks.
“I try to look at them all as learning opportunities, each one helps me get closer to actually getting to win a major.”
The latest didn’t take long to get over, he said, although the fact he didn’t show for the presentation ceremony suggests otherwise, and he did admit that he felt “it was time to get out of there”.
“I was happy with how I played that week, I did everything I was supposed to,” he continued. “I hit the shots I was supposed to hit, so it wasn’t too difficult to get over it.
“Obviously I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get the job done, but you know, I was definitely happy with how I played.”
The final hole, he recalled, started with two shots hit exactly the way he wanted, but two putts that went wrong.
“I don’t know how the ball stayed up there and that was just a tough putt,” he said of the first one. “I wanted it to just barely go in, but it still went four feet by. I hit a good putt on the way back, and it just bounced and missed left.
“Pretty much everyone missed a lot of putts. That was just part of it. I felt I was hitting good putts, but it’s tough to judge bounces.”
Johnson should do decently around St Andrews.
He tied for 14th in 2010, and he’s been back since a couple of times at the Dunhill, although not shooting the lights out. And he certainly has more experience around the Old Course than Spieth.
“Jordan is a good buddy of mine and we have fun playing together,” he said. “It’s a good group with Hideki Matsuyama. I like playing with Jordan and there’s no pressure.”
What did he think of Spieth’s Grand Slam chances, given that with one putt he could have ended them?
“Well, I’m playing in the next two,” he pointed out, “so we’ll have to see.”
Spieth, Johnson and Maruyama are in what is close to the old Thursday morning marquee slot timed for the BBC coming on air, at 9.33 am, just 20 minutes before Tiger Woods opens his bid for a third Old Course victory, partnered by Jason Day and 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen.
Tom Watson, in his last Open after 40 years and five wins, has a decent group with twice champion Ernie Els and Brandt Snedeker at 8.33 am. Bubba Watson and Ian Poulter play with Charl Schwartzel at 9 am, with Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed following them at 9.11.
Phil Mickelson, champoion in 2013, gets his preferred afternoon start on Thursday with Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar at 2.34 pm, followed by Justin Rose, Sir Nick Faldo and new Scottish Open champion Rickie Fowler at 2.45.
The grouping of Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer and Jimmy walker at 2.12 also catches the eye
The honour of starting the 144th Open on Thursday will fall to Australia’s Rod Pampling, who led after the first round in 1999 at Carnoustie, at 6.32 am.
The first Scot out is Russell Knox, making his Open debut with Brian Harman and Graham Delaet at 6.54. 1985 champion Sandy Lyle starts another Open with Americans Charley Hoffman and Kevin Na at 7.38 am.
Paul Lawrie plays with another two Americans, Ryan Palmer and Kevin Kisner, directly after the Spieth group at 9.44, with 11th hour entry Richie Ramsay at just after midday, partnering Cameron Tringale and Pablo Larrazabal.
Stephen Gallacher partners Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryan Moore at 2.01 pm.