LOS ANGELES — Dustin Johnson had just rolled in a 16-footer for birdie on No. 18 Friday to climb back to even par for the day, and it must have felt like he set the course record.
A fist pump was followed by a big smile and fist bumps all the way from the green to scoring tent, where he caught up with his agent, David Winkle.
“That was a gut punch,” Winkle said.
“I know,” DJ answered. “But to battle back after that … it could have gone either way.”
Johnson is not just happy to be playing on the weekend at the 2023 U.S. Open, he’s thrilled to be within striking distance at 6 under, or as he says, “in a good spot with 36 holes to go.”
Because this round, this championship, all could have gone sideways about 30 minutes in on Friday when Johnson took that punch to gut: a quadruple-bogey 8 at the second hole, to drop to 2 under.
Johnson’s entire weekend depended on how he would recover.
“To battle back and get it back to even par for the day … still right in the mix going into the weekend, definitely proud of the way I came back and finished off the round,” Johnson said.
And his recovery started with the very next shot, a 300-yard drive to the middle of the fairway on the par-4 third hole that led to a 14-footer dropping in from the side door for the most important birdie of his first two days.
How important was the tee shot on No. 3 after Johnson was beating himself up on that green-to-tee walk?
The most important of the day, he said.
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“Hitting a good shot and just getting settled back down after making an 8 …” he said. “Definitely wasn’t too thrilled with myself walking off that green.”
That hole was in such contrast to No. 2, a 490-yard par 4 that at one point Friday was playing as the eighth-hardest hole on the LA Country Club’s North Course with an average score of 4.2.
But a quad? Besides a bunch of bogeys, the hole had seen one double other than Johnson’s snowman.
Johnson was trying to recall his worst shots of the hole and stopped after saying he “chunked” his bunker shot and then “chunked” the next one and “skulled” the next one.
“Everything that you could do wrong, I did wrong,” he said.
The barranca bites back.
Dustin Johnson cards a quad on No. 2. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/naWYKQETQZ
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 16, 2023
The bright side, “Didn’t really hit that bad of a drive.” Even though it caught the bunker.
It all went downhill when his second shot out of the bunker traveled 95 yards and into the rough. That lie led to another chunk that went 60 yards and landed in the fescue grass. After a penalty, he chipped the ball over the green and back into the rough. That shot chip rolled 28 feet past the pin.
A merciful two-putt followed.
“It happens sometimes,” he said. “But just battled back and played a really good round of golf.
“I’ve made some big numbers before, it’s not the first time.”
Johnson was smiling when he said that. But at this point, he could. After giving back that birdie on No. 3 with a bogey on No. 4, Johnson picked up shots on No. 8, 12, 15 and 18.
And it could have been even better.
“Still missed a few good looks at birdie,” he said. “I had quite a few good looks at birdie that I didn’t make, and lipped out a couple.”
Johnson has lost some of the intimidation factor since joining LIV Golf and struggling mightily in majors this year. He is no longer the feared golfer he was during his 135 weeks at No. 1 in the world that covered most of 2017 and a lot of 2018.
A two-time major winner, Johnson is coming off a 48th-place finish in the PGA Championship and 55th at the Masters. Last year, just before it was revealed he was taking Saudi money to join LIV Golf, he had missed the cut at the PGA before placing 24th at the U.S. Open and sixth at the British Open.
Now, he’s one of the jewels of LIV’s raid on the tour, having signed for a reported $150 million, and having earned more than $35 million in prize money during his first year on LIV.
This also means his LIV future remains cloudy with no one sure what will become of the league after last week’s announcement that the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, signed an agreement that would combine their commercial businesses, with the tour reportedly having a big say on LIV’s survival.
Johnson, though, does not seem concerned after telling ESPN that he was told LIV is working on a full schedule for next year.
More important for him right now is avoiding any more quadruple bogeys if he wants to be in contention Sunday for his third major championship.
“I know what it takes to win,” he said. “You’ve got to do everything well. I feel like I’m swinging really well and rolling it good. So if I can keep driving it like I am, I’ll be around here on the weekend.”
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