Dustin Johnson

Shot 1: Shank to the right out of bounds
Shot 2: Back to the Tee
Shot 3: Duck Hook left into the tall grass (in play)
Shot 4: Hack, no advancement
Shot 5: Hack, short advancement
Shot 6: Reaches the green
Shot 7: Within a foot of the hole
Shot 8: In the hole

Quadruple Bogey, Ouch

If you were watching last week’s AT&T Byron Nelson then you know that this was Dustin Johnson’s sixth hole on Sunday’s final round that took him out of the lead and out of contention for the championship. He had been playing outstanding up until that point with his typical great ball striking, but what was unusual for him was that he was putting lights out. It looked as though he was on his way to another PGA win, but instead, because of that snowman he settled for a T8 finish. Johnson has been playing outstanding golf since coming back from his extended leave due to drug problems. He has recorded a T4 at the AT&T Pebble Beach, runner-up at Northern Trust, win at WGC Cadillac, and T6 at The Masters.

Johnson was born in Columbia, South Carolina and played collegiate golf at Coastal Carolina University. He turned professional in 2007 and earned his 2008 PGA Tour card by finishing in a tie for 14th place at 2007 qualifying school. It did not take long for Johnson to get his first PGA Tour win as he won the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Later in the season he then won at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

In February 2010 he successfully defended title at the AT&T Pebble Beach. Also in 2010, in the final round of the 2010 PGA Championship, Johnson held a one-shot lead entering the final hole and appeared to have bogeyed the hole, which would have tied him for first and entered him into a three-hole playoff with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer. However, he received a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, thereby dropping him to a tie for fifth place.  Johnson redeemed himself in the third Fed Ex Cup playoff event of the season, by winning the the BMW Championship. He finished the 2010 season ranked 4th on the PGA Tour money list.

Johnson won his fifth PGA title at The Barclays in 2011. The win also took him to a career high of 4th in the world rankings. Johnson incurred a back injury at home in March and missed over two months of the 2012 season. He returned to competition in late May and the following week he won his sixth tour event, the Fed Ex St Jude Classic.

Johnson began his 2013 season with a win at the season opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Also in 2013 Johnson became engaged to Paulina Gretzky, daughter of “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky.  Johnson kicked off his 2014 wraparound season with a win at the WGC HSBC. He also added runner up finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach and Northern Trust Open. On July 31, Johnson announced he was taking the rest of the season off to seek professional help for personal challenges. On August 1, conflicting reports surfaced regarding the circumstances of Johnson’s announcement. Golf Magazine reported that Johnson had been suspended from the PGA Tour for six months after testing positive for cocaine. The magazine indicated that this was his third positive drug test, after a 2009 positive for marijuana and 2012 positive for cocaine. However, PGA Tour officials indicated that Johnson was taking a voluntary leave and was not under suspension. On September 23, 2014, his fiancé Paulina Gretzky announced that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child, due in 2015. On January 20, 2015, Johnson announced the birth of their first child, a son.

It appears that Johnson is back on track to being one of the most dominant players in golf. He is the longest hitter, averaging 316 yards a drive this season. He also ranks 9th in Strokes Gained Tee to Green. If his putting game can improve just a little bit and not lose strokes to the field, he will be able to start winning a lot more. His layoff combined with the birth of his son looks to have brought him to a good place and we think he is going to continue his great play the rest of this season. This week at The Memorial might be a week that Johnson wins as he has had as high as a 4th place finish in the past.