Johnson trades on winds for win
When the wind blows hard on the Plantation course in Hawaii it plays extra games with the world’s top golfers.
The long course works through the lower slopes of the West Maui mountain range and when the nearby ocean breeze is gentle the course feels more manageable. When it puffs up, it’s a struggle and a lottery for most.
Not for Dustin Johnson though, who melted the field in the opening PGA event of the year as he pounded and putted his way to an eight-shot victory.
The highlight of his triumph were the two eagles he made at the weekend on the par-4 downwind 12th which measured 433 yards (396m). He wedged in from 60m for his first then in the final round battered his drive over the blind hill and down the slope, to leave him with a 15cm putt
for eagle while his rivals were hitting wedges to the green.
Commentator Brandel Chamblee caused plenty of controversy, and was quickly shot down, when he went as far as saying it was the greatest shot in golf because of the distance and precision of the drive. He ranked it ahead of Gene Sarazen’s “shot heard around the world” at the 1935 Masters where he holed out for an albatross from the fairway with a 4-wood from 235 yards on the par 5 15th.
Johnson has been No 1 in the world for the past year as he combined his extraordinary length with accuracy from the tee and a sharper mix about his short game. He only got out of shape when he slipped down the stairs at a house he was renting and had to withdraw from the Masters.
Chasing him in the rankings are Jordan Spieth, Spain’s Jon Rahm who finished runner-up in Hawaii, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama while Masters champion Sergio Garcia rounds out the top 10.
The leading group of youngsters have been the movers and threats to Johnson’s top dog status while Rory McIlroy has slipped out of the top 10 as has Jason Day.
Others notables on the ranking slide are Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Bill Haas and Bubba Watson who is in 93rd place while we wait to see whether Tiger Woods’ body and game hold up and whether he can produce enough form to challenge the younger headline acts once more.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee is ranked at 109 and Ryan Fox at 123 after he won almost $2m last year in a very successful season in Europe.
Fox is confirmed to start the NZ Open at Millbrook in March alongside defending champion Michael Hendry, KJ Choi and Tim Wilkinson while that same weekend Johnson is expected to defend his World Golf Championship title in Mexico City.
While Spieth gives the impression he obsesses about every detail in his game, Johnson delivers a nonchalance about his game as if he’s out for a stroll interrupted by occasional stops to hit a golf ball. That casual air masks a drive to succeed in the way Johnson has begun 2018 with an aloha performance.