Crown rests uneasily on golf ’s No. 1 player
Riviera. He believes the answer lies between the ears. He also believes that’s difficult for any of those six players — and the list only figures to get longer — because they’re too busy looking around at everyone else.
“When you have one player who knows his ‘A’ game is better than anyone else’s, he’s able to play within himself and win,” Harrington said. “Whereas when you have half a dozen guys capable of playing like that, it makes them all look over their shoulder.
“The place you want to be is believing your game is a winning game. It’s hard to believe that now. If Jason Day turns up, if Jordan Spieth turns up, Dustin, Rory, Henrik. If any of these guys turn up and hit form, they all look unbeatable.”
Johnson’s power is such that he was the only player to average more than 300 yards off the tee at Riviera in the cool Pacific air and soggy turf. He knew where it was going, too, which is always a good combination. He didn’t putt his best, but he didn’t need to.
Spieth is not as long off the tee and occasionally will get left out of these conversations, which is a mistake.
“It’s hard to go against Jordan Spieth,” Ernie Els said Tuesday. “My God, he’s got that extra doggedness in him.”
Els said it was important to be accurate off the tee. He listed Johnson. And then Day. And then McIlroy. And then the rest of them.
And then he laughed, and he kept going.
“They all have good short games. They all can putt. They all have a bit of experience now,” Els said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to hunger.”
It’s not an issue this week. The top six players in the world — all of them can reach No. 1 by the end of the month — are not playing the Honda Classic. All of them will be in Mexico City next week for the first World Golf Championships event.