Defending champ having great week
Johnson’s son born Monday
TOWN OF ERIN — For the vast majority of golfers, winning the U.S. Open would be the highlight of their lives. For Dustin Johnson, the top-ranked player in the world, defending his 2016 title probably wouldn’t be the highlight of his week. Instead, it would just be the cherry on top.
That’s because on Monday, while much of the field was already at Erin Hills getting ready for the championship that begins early Thursday morning, Johnson was with his fiancée, Paulina Gretzky, as she gave birth to the couple’s second child, a son they named River Jones Johnson.
“The last 48 hours has been awesome,” Johnson said Wednesday afternoon following his practice round on the back nine. “Having a new son has been fantastic. Everybody is healthy. So it’s been great.”
Johnson has dominated the PGA Tour since claiming his first major last June at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. He has won five of his 15 starts since then, including a stretch of three in a row in February and March. The first victory of the three in a row came at the Genesis Open in mid-February and vaulted him into the No. 1 spot in the Feb. 26 edition of the world rankings, a perch he hasn’t left since.
There has been one hiccup, though, and it was a big one. On the eve of The Masters, Johnson slipped in his rental house in Augusta, Ga., and suffered a back injury that forced him to withdraw from the season’s first major and miss nearly a month.
“Obviously it was very disappointing not to be able to play, kind of with a freak accident,” Johnson said. “I’m excited to come back and defend this week. The game feels like it’s in really good shape . ... I feel like I’m prepared, I feel like I’m ready, and we’ll see what happens.”
Following the injury, Johnson competed in three tournaments in May. First, he tied for second at the Wells Fargo Championship and then recorded top-15 finishes in The Players Championship and the Byron Nelson.
At the beginning of June, he shot a 152 in the first two rounds of the Memorial and missed the cut, which could prove to be a benefit heading into the U.S. Open. Knowing that his son’s birth would push his arrival at the U.S. Open back to Tuesday at the earliest, Johnson left the Memorial and spent June 3-4 at Erin Hills to practice.
During that weekend, he and his brother got a first, intimate look at the course, taking a local caddie around to help them get their bearings.
“Obviously it was kind of good for the first time around to have one just to — on a few holes, you need to know where to hit it,” Johnson said. “And if you haven’t played here before it definitely helps if someone knows the course. It was definitely helpful in trying to figure out some lines off the tees.”
As it turned out, Johnson arrived Tuesday and immediately got in a full round of practice on a course that should suit his skills well. Listed at 7,741 yards, Erin Hills is the longest course in the history of the U.S. Open, which could benefit a powerful driver like Johnson.
“I hope so,” Johnson said with a laugh when asked if his length off the tee and status as world No. 1 and defending champion should intimidate his rivals. “Shouldn’t it?”
While defending his U.S. Open title probably wouldn’t supplant the birth of his son as the highlight of his week, it would put Johnson into rare air. In the previous 116 times the tournament has been contested, only six men have won in backto-back years. The most recent was Curtis Strange in 1988-’89 and before that Ben Hogan accomplished the feat in 1950-’51.
Among golf’s four majors, the U.S. Open has gone the longest without a repeat champion.
“It’s a difficult championship to win,” said Johnson, who finished tied for second in 2015 and tied for fourth in 2014. “It always plays very difficult. You’ve got to play good, every part of your game has to be working very well if you want to have a chance to win.”