Golfer Dustin Johnson dialing in just in time for US Open
Shaking off recent struggles, the world No. 1 turned in a bogey-free 65 Thursday.
RIDGELAND, S.C. – Fair warning. Just in time for next week’s U.S. Open, Dustin Johnson is getting dialed in.
Shaking off recent struggles, the world No. 1 turned in a bogey-free, 6-under-par 65 Thursday to plant himself on the first page of the leaderboard after the first round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
The scary part is his scorecard didn’t include a birdie on the three par-5s, and he missed two birdie putts inside 8 feet. And his peers should take notice: The last time Johnson opened with a 65 or better on the PGA Tour, he won the Masters. In all, he’s won five of 16 times on Tour when opening with a 65 or better.
“I felt like I’ve been swinging well for a while now, just haven’t really seen the results or seen the scores,” he said. “I made a few putts. I just played solid golf, finally put a round together.”
He’s had a hard time putting anything together this year. His lone top-10 finish on the PGA Tour came in February, and in his other seven starts he finished north of 45th three times and missed two cuts, including in his most recent start in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
But in one seven-hole stretch in the first round Thursday, he hit every approach to within 11 feet. He found 10 of 14 fairways and ended his day by chipping in for birdie from 81 feet.
“It was OK,” he said about his putting. “The greens are kind of tricky to read. I missed a short one there on the par-3 fifth. But I hit the putt right where I wanted to, it just broke hard right and I didn’t see that in the putt. I’m happy with the way I rolled it. Obviously, 6 under was a good score, but I still missed quite a few short makable putts.
“The putting’s been off or it’s just like small little mistakes that you shouldn’t make, so sometimes it’s taken a little bit of time away and kind of clearing my head and definitely it helps. Put in a lot of good work last week and I feel like I’m swinging good, so if I can keep the putter rolling it’s going to be a fun week.”
Johnson stood one shot out of the lead set by journeyman Wes Roach, who was 4 under after four holes and made one bogey en route to a 64, just one shot off his career low on the PGA Tour. It is the first outright lead Roach has ever held after any round in his 88 starts on the tour.
“It feels great,” Roach said. His best career finish on the PGA Tour is a tie for third in the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic. “Hard work paying off a little bit. It’s just 18 holes and there’s a long ways to go, but I’m just going to do my best to stay present out there and just continue to hit quality shots.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well for the majority of the year and my putter has just ... it wasn’t very good, to be honest. So kind of mixed things up a little bit a few weeks ago back home and everything’s in a good spot right now.”
Joining Johnson at 65 were Chesson Hadley, Erik van Rooyen and Doc Redman, who tied for 42nd in last weekend’s Memorial and then started this week by withdrawing from the U.S. Open final qualifier in Columbus, Ohio in his first round.
World No. 8 Brooks Koepka, playing for the first time since finishing in a tie for second in the PGA, birdied his last hole to shoot 72.