For Dustin Johnson, a Masters of success and tears

By Art Spander

It seemed more coronation than competition. Sure, there were a few moments of doubt early on, but when it was finished there was Dustin Johnson, fighting back tears and wearing a green jacket.

Johnson had both realized a dream and broken records, taking the Masters by a figurative mile and fulfilling the promise of greatness that had been forecast but, for so long, remained more curse than blessing.

When he putted out Sunday at the final hole of the first November Masters, Johnson had a 4-under 68, an unimaginable total of 20-under-par 268 — two shots lower than the winning marks shared by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth — and a five-shot victory, the largest margin since Tiger’s triumph in 1997.

And when CBS’ Amanda Balionis, on a green near the Augusta National clubhouse — alone because of pandemic restrictions — asked Johnson what the win meant, he reached up to wipe his eyes and then paused several times to gather himself.

“On the golf course, I’m pretty good at it,” he said about controlling emotions. “Out here, I’m not. As a kid I dreamed about winning the Masters.”

He is the son of a golf pro and grew up in South Carolina, a couple hours away from Augusta.

“It’s been the tournament I wanted to win most,” he said.

Now he’s won it, a second major along with the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont — a poignant answer to those who belittled his golfing intelligence, who emphasized his failing instead of his success. And since he’s No. 1 in the world rankings, he’s had a considerable amount of success.

He has 27 wins and was PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2016 and 2020. At 36, Johnson is both young and experienced. He survived disappointment and criticism — blowing that lead in the last round of the 2002 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach made him wiser stronger.

“He’s been knocking at the door so long,” said Rory McIlroy of Johnson. “I think this validates what he did at Oakmont.”

McIlroy also has been knocking on the Masters door. It’s the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments Rory hasn’t won. He was nine shots behind Johnson this time.

Asked about Johnson’s devil-may-care image, McIlroy said, “He’s smarter than you think. He’s switched on more than everyone in the media thinks. I’ll just put it that way.”

The fourth day of this unique Masters, one without paying spectators — patrons, they’re called by the club — one in autumn rather than April, began with in morning in order to finish before afternoon NFL games.

Johnson was four shots ahead at tee-off, but that margin was trimmed to one after he bogied four and five.  It quickly was restored. Johnson birdied six and went on his way.

Cameron Smith of Australia, who shot 69 and became the first player in the tournament’s 84 years with all four rounds in the 60s, and Sungjae Im of Korea tied for second at 273, 15-under.

“I was actually saying before, you know, I'd take 15‑under around here the rest of my career and I might win a couple,” said Smith. “So yeah, that’s just the way it is.”

Because Johnson was just the way he was — and the course, after that heavy rain Thursday morning just when play began, was just the way it was. Brooks Koepka, winner twice of the U.S. Open and twice of the PGA, said the turf was to Johnson’s liking.

“The course suited him down to the ground,” said Koepka, who tied for seventh. “He’s more of a picker of the ball. He doesn’t spin it that much with his irons. The ball’s not going to be backing up.

“He’s been on a tear since the Travelers (in June, after the Tour restarted). It almost feels like it’s coming, and it was this week.”

Said Johnson, alluding to the virus pandemic and tournaments without fans and thus without cheers, “It has been a really strange year, but it’s been really good to me.”

You might say it was a masterful year.

Dustin should win — but in golf, nothing is certain

By Art Spander

He is four shots ahead with only a single round remaining, the world No. 1 playing like the world No. 1, loaded with confidence on a course that suits his game, breaking par and practically breaking records.

There’s only one reason that Dustin Johnson wouldn’t win this Masters. It’s called golf, and in golf nothing is certain.

Golf is a game in which you don’t have control over your opponents, and sometimes not over yourself.

A game where a one-foot putt and a 300-yard drive each count the same number of strokes. A game where you can lose a lead before you tee off.

A game where there’s no relief pitcher or backup quarterback when things go bad.

Dustin knows all about the agony of golf. He tossed away a three-shot advantage in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, shooting 82.

He three-putted the 72 hole of the 2015 Open at Chambers Bay.

He also knows all about the ecstasy. He won the 2016 Open at Oakmont and this year everything else on the pandemic-shortened Tour schedule.

Johnson, yes, ought to take this tournament. On Saturday, he became the first in 84 years to shoot a second round of 65 in the same Masters, and his 65-70-65—200, 16 under par, ties the all-time low for 54 holes at the tournament set by Jordan Spieth.

Still, golf can be chilling. In 2011, Rory McIlroy also had a four-shot margin at the Masters and shot 80 the final day.

And only three months ago, Johnson held the lead in the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco, albeit by one stroke, and came in tied for second, a shot behind Collin Morikawa.

Yet everything seems perfect for Johnson, including the fairways and greens, soft from the big rain on Thursday morning.

“If I can play like I did today,” said Johnson, referring to his missed chances of the past, “I think it would break the streak. (Sunday) is just 18 holes of golf. I need to go out and play solid. I feel like I’m swinging well. If I can just continue to give myself looks at birdies, I think I’ll have a good day.”

He’s on a roll, which seems the proper word at Augusta National, where the hills and swales have an effect, where big hitters such as Johnson always have had an edge. On Saturday he reached the downhill 575-yard 2^nd hole with a 5-iron and made the putt for an eagle 3.

His only mistake of the round was at 18, and, of course, he saved par. On the Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee compared it to a pitcher losing a perfect game with two outs in the ninth, but it was not that fateful.

So much has been written about the power and length of Bryson DeChambeau. Dustin Johnson is a less bulked-up DeChambeau, muscular and effective. DeChambeau, by the way, came out on Saturday, played nine and made the cut after being forced to stop on Friday because of darkness.

Self-belief is a necessity in golf. When you know you’ll hit the way you want, you do just that.

“Coming off a good finish” at Houston, the previous week, Johnson said on Tuesday, “Got a lot of confidence in the game ... As long as the game stays in good form, I think I’m hopefully going to be around here Sunday and have a chance to win.”

He’s got a chance, an excellent chance.

On Saturday, after three rounds and that big lead, Johnson was no less enthusiastic.

“I would say the game is in really good form,” said Johnson. “It’s just very consistent. I feel like I’ve got a lot of control over what I’m doing, controlling my distance well with my flight and my shape. I’m very comfortable standing over the golf ball, and obviously that’s a really good feeling.”

He just needs to hold on to that feeling. In golf, it can disappear as rapidly as a ball into a water hazard, and there are plenty of those the back nine at the Masters.

PGA Tour boss mixes it up with Phil, Dustin and Jordan

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The great thing about Jay Monahan’s job is that he didn’t have to ask the boss if he could take the day off and play golf. He is the boss, the commissioner of the PGA Tour.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019, The Maven 

U.S. Open third round: Chaos among the sand traps

By Art Spander

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Chaos among the sand traps. Phil Mickelson playing by his own rules, or his interpretation of the rules. Dustin Johnson playing by the skin of his teeth.

The wind blew, the bogies grew and the 118^th U.S Open turned into a golf tournament of as many opinions as strokes.

Johnson had his seemingly solid lead get away before recapturing part of it Saturday in an agonizing third round at Shinnecock Hills, which definitively didn’t let its reputation as a brutal, testing course get away.

The last time the Open was here, at the eastern end of Long Island, caught between the devil and the deep, blue sea, was in 2004, and Shinnecock was so unfair that the sponsoring body, the U.S. Golf Association, decided to water the greens in the middle of the fourth round.

This time, looking for redemption as well as a tough championship, the USGA said it had learned from past mistakes and would keep Shinnecock playable. But as approach shots rolled for miles after hitting greens and golfers lost strokes along with their confidence, that promise appeared not to have been kept.

The USGA apologized for course condtions, as if that would ease the pain of those with bad scores. "Thanks guys did Bozo set the course," tweeted Ian Poulter, who shot 76.

 David Fay, a former executive director of the USGA, went on Fox TV and said the course was “close to the edge,” but Zach Johnson, a former Masters and British Open champion, who shot a 2-over-par 72, insisted, “It’s not on the edge, it’s surpassed it. It’s gone.”

That was the word that we believed would apply to Dustin Johnson, who began the day with a four-shot advantage. But it was the advantage that was gone, in a virtual flash. Dustin made double bogey on two and bogies on four, six, seven and eight, and with a 6-over 41 on the front nine he fell behind last year’s winner at Erin Hills, Brooks Koepka, and Henrik Stenson.

When the round finally was done, however, Dustin Johnson, even shooting a 7-over 41-36-77, was in a four-way tie for first at a not-surprisingly high total (for the Open) of 3-over for 54 holes, 213.

Sharing with him were Koepka (72) and two golfers who, because they were so far back after two rounds, had morning tee times, and they beat the wind — and everybody else on the course — with 4-under 66s, Paul Berger and Tony Finau.

Another shot back at 4-over 214 was 2013 winner Justin Rose, who virtually one-putted everything in sight (at least on the front) for a 73. Stenson was at 5-over 215.

Mickelson, on his 48^th birthday and as frustrated as anybody — while others kept their emotions in check — had an 11-over 81 that included a two-shot penalty for hitting a moving ball when it rolled off the green at 13.

Fay, the former chief, said on TV that Mickelson should have been disqualified, but the question is whether the golfer is trying to keep the ball from rolling away or just hitting it when it is rolling.

“Phil didn’t purposely deflect or stop the ball,” said John Bodenhamer, managing director of championships for the USGA, alluding to a rule.

What Phil did, however, was a poor reflection of a man who has won every major except the U.S. Open, as if he could do what he wants.

“It was going to go down in the same spot behind the bunker,” said Mickelson, referring to where he earlier had played from. “I wasn’t going to have a shot.” So he had 10 shots. “I know it’s a two-shot penalty.”

Yes, the Open drives men mad.

Rickie Fowler shot 84 Saturday. His total of 226 was one lower than Mickelson’s 227. That two golfers far out of contention became newsworthy is part of the Open’s mystique and confusion. A few rounds at a course where par is almost impossible has golfers talking — and the media listening.

“I didn’t feel like I played badly at all,” said Dustin Johnson. “Seven over, you know, usually is a terrible score, but I mean with the way the greens got this afternoon ... they were very difficult.

“A couple of putts today I could have putted off the green. But it’s the U.S. Open. It’s supposed to be tough.”

Shinnecock was. Very, very tough.

The Open: Tiger won’t win; Dustin probably will

By Art Spander

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Halfway through a U.S. Open low in excitement and high in scoring, two assumptions are possible: Tiger Woods definitely will not win and Dustin Johnson probably will.

Neither could be considered a surprise.

Woods unquestionably was once the best golfer in the world. That was then, before aging and injuries. This is now, when Johnson could be considered the best golfer in the world. If nothing else, he’s No. 1 in the world rankings.

And after 36 holes at Shinnecock Hills Country Club, way out on Long Island, he’s in first place of this 118th Open by four strokes, at 4-under 69-67-136, the only player under par.

Woods was tied for 86^th place, meaning nowhere, because only the low 60s and ties made the cut to play in the final two rounds. Tiger wasn’t bad in Friday’s second round (stop asking, “compared to whom?”). He shot a 2-over 72. If only he hadn’t shot 78 on Thursday.

That’s when, asked about his mindset after a round that included a triple bogey and two doubles, Woods advised, “Shoot something in the 60s (Friday) and I’ll be just fine.”

He didn’t and he wasn’t. That’s what happens in sports. You can plan, you can practice, but in the end you have to produce. 

Tiger produced for years. Now the production is from Johnson, trying for his second Open championship in three years. “Dustin,” said Woods, grouped with Johnson, “was in complete control of what he’s doing.”

Such a glorious feeling in golf. In life. For everything to go the way we want it, if only for a brief while. Yet bliss can end in the blink of an eye.

In football, the line is you’re always one play away from an injury. In golf, you’re one swing away from disaster — or from success.

Johnson is well aware. He led another U.S. Open, in 2010 at Pebble Beach, and in the final round, his drive on two landed in a bunker. The next thing he and we knew, Dustin went triple bogey, double bogey, bogey on two, three and four, respectively, losing six shots like that and blowing himself out of the tournament.

What Ian Poulter did on Friday at Shinnecock wasn’t quite as severe, but it was no less unfortunate. One shot behind at eight, his 17th hole of the round, Poulter went into a bunker on his approach, bladed the sand shot and took a triple bogey. Then he bogeyed nine.

“It looks really stupid,” Poulter said of his mis-hitting. “I felt stupid knifing the first one. I felt even more stupid chunking the next one. And I didn’t do much better on the next one either.”

A humbling game, golf. Such a harsh description. Such an honest description. Tiger Woods? Five amateurs had lower scores for two rounds in this Open than Tiger. One of them, Matt Parziale, is a fireman in Brockton, Mass. He made the cut.

What a strange Open his has been, with the stars making bogies and double bogies — but Phil Mickelson at least made the cut; Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy did not — the weather turning from light morning wind and rain to late afternoon stillness and sunshine.

Johnson went off the 10th tee at 8:02 a.m. EDT with Woods and Justin Thomas. Conditions were less than ideal. Yet when you’re playing well, the weather is secondary. You just hit and march on.

“Starting out,” said Johnson, “through our first seven or eight holes it was breezy and overcast. So it felt like the course was playing really difficult. But I got off to a nice start. I kind of hung in there and made some good saves for pars.”

Woods, 42, had years of success. He believes he’ll find it once more, which is understandable, if not quite realistic. His putting, once magnificent, now is best described as mediocre. And there’s no record of a golfer who became a better putter as he got older.

“You don’t win major championships,” said Woods, who has won 14, “by kind of slapping all over the place and missing putts. You have to be on.”

Which is why, while others play the last two rounds, he’s off.