DJ hoping to recreate U.S. Open magic at Oakmont

OAKMONT, Pa. – It’s been nine years since Dustin Johnson won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, the first of his two major titles. Until this week, he had only returned to the club one other time, for a ceremony to receive an honorary membership. A dinner was held, and he was presented with a jacket.

It was green, albeit not exactly the same shade as the other jacket he acquired four years later for winning the Masters. And unlike Augusta National, there’s no annual dinner for Oakmont’s major champions.

Even so …

“Proud member of Oakmont,” Johnson said. “I’m probably their favorite member because I never come.”

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He’s back this week, and as you might imagine, a few things have changed in those nine years. He’s in his fourth year as an original member of LIV Golf. He’s the captain of his own team, 4Aces GC, which dominated the inaugural 2022 season and remains among the league’s highest-profile clubs. He’s now the father of two kids (not one like in 2016) with his wife Paulina. And he turned 40 just under a year ago.

One thing hasn’t changed, however.

Oakmont.

It’s still diabolical.

On Monday, having arrived here after his tie for 10th at last week’s LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden, Johnson was asked which golf course he considered the hardest he had ever played.

The response? “Probably this one.”

He added, “I’ve played some hard courses, but it all depends on the conditions. This one’s hard no matter what – soft, firm, windy, no wind.”

When he won in 2016, it was officially with a score of 4 under … or unofficially 5 under, depending on your perspective of the one-stroke penalty he received because rules officials believed his ball moved at address on the fifth green, only coming to that conclusion after his round.

It created controversy and uncertainty while Johnson finished his round, as he was told on the 12th hole that he might face a penalty. Luckily, the outcome wasn’t impacted. The next closest pursuers were 1 under. Johnson was dominant that week.

“I drove it really straight. I hit a lot of fairways,” he said. “That was the only reason I shot that well … I figured out a way to get it under par. It was mostly the driving.”

He hit 64.8% of his fairways that week, ranking T18 in that category, while leading the field in driving distance with a 317.14-yard average. He would probably take similar numbers this week, but those aren’t the parts of his game that he’s had to worry about lately.

His putter has seemingly abandoned him at times. For the early part of the season, he was among LIV Golf’s worst putters statistically, at one point giving up nearly a stroke each round on the greens.

He’s improved since, and thanks to a good week in Virginia, he’s now a slight positive in strokes gained putting (+0.03). Still, it was only over a year ago that Johnson ranked among the top in LIV Golf putters.

And he still has lapses. Last month at the PGA Championship, he missed the cut, shooting 78-76. His strokes gained putting average in the opening round was -4.932, last in the 156-man field. In the second round, it was -2.446, which ranked 142nd that day.

“I know my score didn’t reflect it at the PGA, but I actually played way better than the score,” Johnson said. “I just struggled a little bit on the greens. Well, maybe that’s an understatement. I struggled really bad on the greens.”

Johnson has won a LIV Golf individual title in each of the league’s first three years; Brooks Koepka is the only other player who can make that claim. While Johnson has been inconsistent this year, there are signs of progress – he’s finished in the top 10 in three of his last five starts, including a T10 last week in Virginia in which he shot a final-round 66.

But since 2020 when he won the Masters, finished T2 at the PGA and T6 at the U.S. Open won by Bryson DeChambeau, Johnson has made little noise in the majors. He’s had three top 10s in his last 18 starts and has missed the cut in five of his last seven, including the first two majors this year.

He’s not discouraged, though. After all, this is DJ, the player recognized for having the shortest memory when it comes to negative moments inside the ropes. That was certainly a key contributor to his success nine years ago at Oakmont. He’s confident that part of his game remains.

“Golf’s a strange sport,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’ve slipped any. My scores haven’t reflected, but it is a really fine line. I remember a few years ago, I missed two cuts in a row. I think I shot 80-80, and then I won the next week.

“It’s always really close to being good, but just getting back there and keeping it consistent, which over the last couple months I’m starting to see a lot of patterns. The game feels like it’s coming back into form.”

Speaking of coming back … while Johnson hasn’t done it often at Oakmont, the club shouldn’t take it as a slight. He has several honorary memberships at various clubs around the country. He doesn’t use those very often, either.