U.S. Open champ Johnson can claim No. 1 ranking

Johnson would have to win the PGA Championship and have Day finish third or worse, or he could be the sole runnerup and reach No. 1 if Day were to finish 28th.

And typical of Johnson, he won’t give it much of a thought.

“It won’t be on my mind,” he said. “I’m going to go out and try to focus on what I’ve got to do. The rest of the stuff, I try not to worry about — or actually I don’t worry about. I just go out and play golf and try to shoot the best score I can. At the end of the week, if I’m on top of the leaderboard and I get to No. 1, obviously that would be great and be a big accomplishment.”

He was the betting favorite going into the final major of the year, mainly because of his consistently great play, and because Baltusrol is a big golf course at 7,462 yards for a par 70. And that’s right up his power alley.

As for the majors, Johnson is starting to set himself apart.

Dating to a missed cut in the 2014 Masters, he has seven top 10s in his last nine majors, including his U.S. Open title at Oakmont.