Johnson building on strong 2016 season

NASSAU, Bahamas — In advance of this week’s Hero World Challenge, Dustin Johnson was asked whether he viewed this tournament as a capper to the best year of his career or a new beginning to the 2017 season.

“That’s a good question,’’ Johnson said. “Probably the start of the year for me. It’s the end of a good year and the start of a new one.’’

Johnson, who won his first career major championship when he captured the U.S. Open in June and won three tournaments overall, is off to a strong start for the upcoming season, taking a share of the Hero lead into the weekend at 12under with Hideki Matsuyama.

Johnson shot a 6-under 66 in Friday’s second round and Matsuyama shot 67.

“I know what I’m working on is the right thing, so just keep doing that,’’ Johnson said. “I’m really not going to change much, just try to keep getting better.’’

Matt Kuchar and Louis Oosthuizen are two shots back at 10-under, and Bubba Watson is 9-under after shooting a scorching 63 on Friday. Still very much in the mix are Brandt Snedeker, who’s 8-under after shooting 64. Jordan Spieth is 7-under thanks to a rare four-putt on the 18th hole.

J.B. Holmes, who led after the first round with a 64, shot 73 Friday and fell back to 7-under.

The day for Watson, the defending champion, was most curious. After shooting a 7-under 29 on the front nine it looked like he might flirt with a 58 or 59. But he followed the front with a 34 on the back for 63.

“The back nine is always the tougher nine, because there are three par-5s that are reachable [in two],’’ Watson said. “I really wanted a 28 [on the front]. I had a chance to make three eagles and lipped out on nine.’’

Watson shot an even-par 72 on Thursday and “knew I had to come out and try to shoot something in the 60s.’’

So he did.

Tiger Woods is using the same Scotty Cameron putter he used while winning 13 of his 14 career majors.

Asked when he went back to using the Scotty Cameron, Woods said, “The day that we were no longer a part of the hard goods side,’’ referring to his main sponsor, Nike, getting out of the club and ball business.

It makes you wonder, with Woods having on-and-off putting troubles, if he was hampered having the Nike putter in his bag for so long instead of the Scotty Cameron.

Woods said he has kept the Scotty Cameron in the putting studio at his house and joked his son, Charlie, “knows there are two putters he can’t touch, there’s that black one I won with the trillium insert, I won the Masters in ’97, and this one. They sit next to each other.’’

“Touch any other putter, do anything you want with any other putter; these putters are off limits,’’ Woods said he told his son. “These two [are] Daddy only.’’