Dustin Johnson played first round of Northern Trust at Liberty National without a driver

Dustin Johnson, the winner of the 2020 FedEx Cup, started his round at the 2021 Northern Trust on Thursday without having a driver in his bag.

No, Johnson was not taking a page out of Phil Mickelson’s playbook from the 2008 U.S. Open when the left-hander decided to take on Torrey Pine’s South Course without a driver. As Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported, Johnson noticed a small crack in his TaylorMade SIM2 driver shortly before his scheduled 12:44 p.m. ET tee time. Since Johnson had not started playing, he was free to replace the club, but while Johnson travels with a backup driver, it was not being kept at Liberty National Golf Club.

“Threw me for a loop there because it was literally ten minutes before I was teeing off when it happened,” Johnson said after shooting a 1-under 70. “Managed to get a decent round in there.”

So, instead of using a driver, Johnson added another fairway wood in the first round of the Northern Trust. The 2016 U.S. Open and 2020 Masters champion typically carries a SIM2 Max 3-wood with 16.5 degrees of loft. According to TaylorMade, on Thursday he used a pair of SIM2 Max fairway woods, one with 14.5 degrees of loft and the other with 18 degrees of loft.

“It was really long,” Johnson said after his round. “I was worried if I could cover the water or not on 7. Then I hit it to the right because I was trying to keep it low and make sure it didn’t get up in the air because it was a long carry.

“Other than that hole, other than having just maybe one or two more clubs into the greens, but the greens are soft. So it wasn’t too bad. But if the wind direction today, it actually wasn’t too bad.”

Why not grab a driver off TaylorMade’s PGA Tour truck? The vans and trucks that provide equipment services to players left Liberty National on Wednesday after lunch, which is customary, and started heading South to Cave’s Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, the site of next week’s BMW Championship.

Most PGA Tour players bring the 14 clubs they play to use to tournaments, along with a backup driver, backup putter and oftentimes a hybrid club, driving iron and intentionally a sand wedge with a different bounce configuration than their normal wedge in case the sand conditions are firmer or fluffier than normal.

Johnson finished the PGA Tour’s regular season ranked 20th in strokes gained off the tee (0.452) and 17th in FedEx Cup points. After signing for his 70 on Thursday evening, Johnson went to the range and began practicing with a SIM2 driver that was acquired for him while he was on the course.