For all the things Dustin Johnson is – the DJ stroll, the bent wrist at the top of his swing, Paulina’s guy – there’s one thing he isn’t.
Fully appreciated.
When Johnson won the Travelers Championship Sunday, admittedly sputtering to the finish, it was his 21st PGA Tour victory and it gave him a victory in every Tour season since 2008 (though he did not win in the calendar year of 2014).
He’s as familiar and enduring as a birthmark, but most of the love in today’s game goes to Tiger or Phil or Rory. For a time, it was Jason Day. Then it was Jordan Spieth, then Brooks Koepka and, more recently, Bryson DeChambeau who sucked up the attention.
Meanwhile, DJ just rolls along.
Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Doug Sanders, Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els, Tom Kite … none of them won as often on the PGA Tour as Johnson has.
One week after he fell out of the top five in the world rankings for the first time since his 2016 U.S. Open victory, Johnson snapped a 16-month winless period and jumped back to No. 3 in the world. The reality is he played only 20 events between victories.
He quietly dealt with a knee issue that was more troublesome than he let on. When the pandemic hit, Johnson took full advantage of his down time, going six weeks without touching a club.
No sense getting in a hurry.
Once he put his mind to it, Johnson found his old mojo. He didn’t make it easy on himself coming in on Sunday at the Travelers, but he’d already done the heavy lifting, putting himself in the final pairing with a career-low 61 Saturday, and he reminded everyone that he’s not going anywhere.
With credit for PGA Tour wins in 13 consecutive seasons (the tour went to a wraparound schedule in 2013) Johnson is closing in on the career record shared by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who won in 17 consecutive seasons. Tiger Woods won in 14 consecutive seasons before personal issues interrupted his momentum in 2010.
“Anytime you’re mentioned with those guys, with Tiger, Jack, I think Arnie, you’ve got to feel good about that because they’re the best that’s ever played this game,” Johnson said after his win at TPC River Highlands. “Anytime your name is mentioned in the same sentence with them, I’m very happy,”
Is Dustin Johnson an all-timer?
He’s certainly a Hall of Famer with 22 worldwide wins, one major championship and five World Golf Championships to his credit.
Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Doug Sanders, Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els, Tom Kite … none of them won as often on the PGA Tour as Johnson has.
The rap against him is he could have won more majors, kicking a couple away and getting undone by a bunker snafu in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. It’s not so much a criticism as it is a reflection on what could have been.
To his credit, Johnson has the ability to leave the past behind. He could have been eaten up inside by what’s happened to him on the golf course but that’s not his way. He plays, he goes home, goes out on the water and takes life as it comes.
Winning the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, hitting the shot of his life with a 6-iron on the 72nd hole to end an afternoon filled with unnecessary rules uncertainty, Johnson stamped his legacy.
In some ways, he is the classic modern player, using his enormous power to his advantage. But Johnson also plays with an uncommon athleticism and he became the best player in the world when he refined his wedge play, proving he is more than a bomber.
Some players consciously cultivate an image. Johnson has never worked that hard at it. He’s comfortable being himself and the more he’s done that, the more it feels like we’ve come to know him.
If you want chatty, go to Jordan Spieth or Rory McIlroy. Want colorful, go to Ian Poulter. Want magnetic, go to Rickie Fowler.
With Johnson, you get what you get. He isn’t trying to change the game or be more than a professional golfer. Phil Mickelson can talk at length about any number of subjects. Johnson prefers to keep it short and usually does.
Butch Harmon, Johnson’s longtime coach, once compared him to a sheriff in a Western movie who hears about the fastest gun in town, gets challenged, slowly saunters outside, takes care of the bad guy in no time then ambles back to what he was doing like it was no big deal.
That’s not unlike how he won last weekend. No one had paid much attention to him. He’d played better than he finished at the RBC Heritage. And all of a sudden, he was posing with another trophy.
It’s the DJ way.