IT’S MO’ TIME
Confident Johnson carries momentum of St. Jude victory
HISTORY says Dustin Johnson won’t win the U.S. Open this year because no one has won a PGA tournament the week before then captured the year’s second major. Johnson won the FedEx St. Jude Classic last weekend in Memphis, clinching his 18th career tour victory by jarring a walkoff eagle on the final hole. But if you think that means he has no chance to win at Shinnecock Hills this week, you haven’t been watching him play golf lately.
Johnson carries the kind of momentum into the 118th U.S. Open that most golfers only dream about — intimidating momentum.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in my game right now,” he said Tuesday. “I feel like everything’s working pretty well. Finishing with a hole-out on the last [in Memphis] was definitely special. It was a cool way to end the day.”
The victory returned Johnson to the No. 1-ranking in the world, a post he held for 64 weeks before getting passed by Justin Thomas four weeks earlier. It was also his second win this year and sixth in the past two years.
He carries the kind momentum he brought of to Augusta National in 2017, when he had won three times and was ranked No. 1. But Johnson slipped down some stairs in the house he was renting the night before the first round and had to withdraw. Now he has a chance for a major mulligan.
“I feel like right now, my game’s in very good shape,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’ve got a lot of confidence in it and I feel like I can play this golf course well.”
Johnson, who claimed his only major at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, doesn’t view winning last week as any kind of jinx. To him, shooting 66 on Sunday for a six-shot victory was validation that he’s back on form.
“I haven’t played that much in the last couple of months,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to get an extra tournament in before the U.S. Open. I felt like it would prepare me better for this week than if I was at home just practicing. I wanted to keep my game sharp. Anytime you win a PGA Tour event, it gives you a lot of confidence.”
We are so enamored with Johnson’s length off the tee, those prodigious drives that seem to stay in the air forever, that we tend to forget he’s much more than that. Accurate irons and a soft touch around the greens will be needed to win this week. Johnson, who played Shinnecock for the first time Monday, has that kind of all-around game.
“It’s all about the second shot,” Johnson said. “You have to hit good quality second shots into these greens. The greens are big, but the surface area where you want to hit you ball is small. If you miss it in the wrong spot, you have a very, very tough time getting it up and down.”
Johnson will be paired with Thomas and Tiger Woods in the opening two rounds, which is sure to draw plenty of fans and attention.
“We’ll have a big gallery out there,” he said. “It will be a lot of fun on Thursday when we tee it up.”
It’s hard to grasp the value of being the No.1-ranked player in golf. There is no championship belt to wear around your waist, and nobody knows exactly how the standings are calculated. The primary barometer of success in golf is the number of majors on a résumé. Still, Johnson likes the view from the top.
“I think it’s a spot where all golfers want to be,” he said. “It’s definitely a spot where I want to be. It’s motivation to keep me working hard and keep doing the things I’m doing.”
Even history may not be able to beat Johnson this week.