Johnson puts trust in wedges

Just over a year ago, Dustin Johnson headed to the range at Riviera in the rain to begin work on his wedges — a big factor in his rise to the No. 1 ranking.

He talks all of the time about the improvement with his short clubs. He also displayed at Austin Country Club how much he trusts them.

The par-4 13th hole over the water was easily reachable for him with a driver, and that’s what Jon Rahm did in the final of the Dell Technologies Match Play that sparked his rally. Johnson never hit driver one time all week. Not this year. Not even last year.

Alex Noren squared their quarterfinal match on the 12th, then hit driver to the throat of the green, 60 feet from the flag. Johnson still went with an iron off the tee, hit a wedge to 10 feet and made birdie. Noren missed from 7 feet, and Johnson was on his way.

“It just doesn’t ever work out well,” Johnson said. “For me, if I hit a great shot, it’s going to land on the green and go over the back. And it’s just a really hard up-and-down. I feel like I’ve got a better chance wedging it from the fairway.”

Johnson said the last time he tried to drive the 13th green was in a practice round in 2016.

“After that … there’s just no reason,” he said. “So ever since then, I’ve laid up every time.”

Perhaps it’s no wonder that when asked whether he was more proud of his power off the tee or his precision with the short clubs, Johnson chose the wedges.

That doesn’t mean he’s perfect with them.

In the semifinals against Hideto Tanihara, he came up short of the green with a wedge on the 13th, 15th and 18th holes (he also stuffed one to 6 feet on the par-3 17th, the money shot, when the match was all square).

“I’m going to keep working on them,” Johnson said. “You can’t be too good with one.”

AP/ERIC GAY Dustin Johnson’s improvement with his short clubs was on full display last week at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play event.